Oakley and Bullbridge

Martin Oakley and John Bullbridge are two farm labourers living in the vicinity of Ashfair who chance to witness the abduction of Mrs Strange. They see her some five miles from Castle Idris, hurrying northwards, wearing a white gown. They fix the hour as nine o'clock, because at the time they see her they hear the ringing of bells and Oakley supposes the bells can only be those of St. George's church in Clun striking the hour. Bullbridge however thinks otherwise, saying that the bells he heard were not those of the church clock but sad ones - "funeral bells, he thought"[43].

In point of fact the two men cannot have seen Mrs Strange at nine o'clock, as at that time she is glimpsed some distance away by Mr Hyde. What they hear apparently are not the bells of St. George's but those "silvery bells" which we are told often accompany acts of fairy magic, and particularly the stealing-away of human captives into Faerie[3].