Page:Cuthbert Bede - The White Wife.djvu/24

Rh level with each other almost up to this bridge, and I was watching her movements—though she never once regarded me—when, as she came along the bank by the bend of the stream, and while my eyes were fixed upon her, she suddenly disappeared. I at once thought that she had fallen into the stream, and immediately ran to the spot, calling out at the same time to my father, that the poor woman had got into the water.

But, although I had reached the spot in two or three seconds, yet I could not see anything of the woman, nor could I see any such disturbance on the surface of the water, as would necessarily have resulted from any body falling into it. The bank was perfectly bare and devoid of any bushes or place of concealment; and yet there was no vestige of the poor woman. My father had at once come running up, and had looked into the stream, but could not see anything. He questioned me on the business; and I was astonished when he told me that he had not seen the woman, although he had looked round several times to ascertain if I was following him; and he said that if any woman had been there,