Wessex Tales

Conjuror Trendle:
You must touch with the limb the neck of a man who's been hanged.

Conjuror Trendle:
Before he's cold - just after he's cut down,

Gertrude:
How can that do good?

Conjuror Trendle:
It will turn the blood and change the constitution. But, as I say, to do it is hard. You must go to the jail when there's a hanging, and wait for him when he's brought off the gallows. Lots have done it, though perhaps not such pretty women as you. I used to send dozens for skin complaints. But that was in former times. The last I sent was in '13 - near twelve years ago.

Rhoda:
Rhoda in anger to Gertrude. Hussy - to come between us and our child now! This is the meaning of what Satan showed me in the vision! You are like her at last!

Gertrude:
What time is the execution?

Hangman:
The same as usual - twelve o'clock, or as soon after as the London mail-coach gets in. We always wait for that, in case of a reprieve.

Gertrude:
Oh, a reprieve, I hope not!

Hangman:
Well, hee, hee! As a matter of business, so do I! But still, if ever a young fellow deserved to be let off, this one does; only just turned eighteen, and only present by chance when the rick was fired. Howsomever, there's not much risk of that, as they are obliged to make an example of him, there having been so much destruction of property that way lately.

Gertrude:
I mean,that I want to touch him for a charm, a cure of an affliction, by the advice of a man who has proved the virtue of the remedy.

Hangman:
Oh, yes, miss! Now I understand. I've had such people come in past years. But it didn't strike me that you looked of a sort to require blood-turning. What's the complaint? The wrong kind for this, I'll be bound.

Rhoda:
They've just been saying down in Barton that your father brings his young wife home from Anglebury tomorrow,' the woman observed. 'I shall want to send you for a few things to market, and you'll be pretty sure to meet 'em.

Jamie:
Yes, Mother,'Is Father married then?

Rhoda:
Yes... You can give her a look, and tell me what she's like, if you do see her.

Jamie:
Yes, Mother.

Rhoda:
If she's dark or fair, and if she's tall - as tall as I. And if she seems like a woman who has ever worked for a living, or one that has been always well off, and has never done anything, and shows marks of the lady on her, as I expect she do.