'Sit down here by my side, and talk to me.

Don't be frightened, child.

You wouldn't, if you knew what they say of me indoors.' He made a motion of his head towards the windows of the old wing--'"Harmless," they say, "quite harmless.

Let him alone, he's harmless." A tiger with his claws cut and his teeth drawn--an old, grey-bearded tiger, ghastly and grim, but harmless--a cobra with the poison-bag plucked out of his jaw! The venom grows again, child--the snake's venom--but youth never comes back: Old, and helpless, and harmless!' Again Mary tried to move away, but those evil eyes held her as if she were a bird riveted by the gaze of a serpent.
'Why do you shrink away ?' asked the old man, frowning at her.

'Sit down here, and let me talk to you.