Old Stories 243
and where should they be found but at the top of the well-sweep.
Again the beads were gone. They searched high and low; and finally the beads were found in a teacup, in the bottom of a tub of clothes that they had taken down by the brook to rinse, and spread on the grass.
Another strange thing was that the family were continually finding odd articles of one sort and another in the dye-tub by the kitchen fireplace. This could not be allowed to go on, and one of the boys was told to sit on the dye-tub and stay there; but nothing came of it.
These stories circulated through the neighborhood, and occasioned not a little excitement. Even the minister was a good deal exercised over it. He led in a number of prayer-meetings at the house; but the Devil continued, nevertheless, in apparent full possession.
Sometimes a watch was set, and this served to fasten suspicion on Granny Bates and an old cat owned in the family. When some one went to get meal to sift, they found this old cat in the bin. Then they noticed that the old cat had begun to look very strangely. and there
