A Reputed Changeling; Or, Three Seventh Years Two Centuries Ago

The young girls talk in hushed tones about a young boy in town rumored to be a changeling. Strange Peregrine Oakshott knows there is something different about him, but can do nothing but helplessly pray to the fairy beings for their return. Excerpt: "Anne drew a long sigh and asked whether the real boy in fairyland would never come back. «There's no telling, missie dear. Some say they are bound there forever and a day, some that they as hold 'em are bound to bring them back for a night once in seven years, and in the old times if they were sprinkled with holy water, and crossed, they would stay, but there's no such thing as holy water now, save among the Papists, and if one knew the way to cross oneself, it would be as much as one's life was worth.»