noon
Mistress Clarke told me that , not hearing from me -LRB- some letter must have miscarried -RRB- , she had grown impatient and despairing , and had urged Lucy to the enterprise of coming to seek her grandmother ; not telling her , indeed , of the dread reputation she possessed , or how we suspected her of having so fearfully blighted that innocent girl ; but , at the same time , hoping much from the mysterious stirring of blood , which Mistress Clarke trusted in for the removal of the curse . They had come , by a different route from that which I had taken , to a village inn not far from Coldholme , only the night before . This was the first interview between ancestress and descendant . All through the sultry noon I wandered along the tangled wood-paths of the old neglected forest , thinking where to turn for remedy in a matter so complicated and mysterious . Meeting a countryman , I asked my way to the nearest clergyman , and went , hoping to obtain some counsel from him . But he proved to be a coarse and common-minded man , giving no time or attention to the intricacies of a case , but dashing out a strong opinion involving immediate action . For instance , as soon as I named Bridget Fitzgerald , he exclaimed : ` The Coldholme witch !