this way and then that. It was a strange assemblage. None in it was laughing. There was no jesting, no calling from one to another. Instead there was a calm quietness about it, a set, serious look on the faces that partook of a sense of a duty to be performed--one that could not be shirked. Into the room, with its high ceiling and dark oaken beams overhead, the people swarmed, making but little confusion. After some crowding and quiet jostling, Master Willis and I managed to obtain seats near the door. We had scarcely gotten into them before the tavern keeper, peering up, whispered:
“There goes Stephen Sewall, the clerk. Note how proudly he bears his ink horn and quills. He seems to know not any one now, though only yesterday he begged me to trust him for a glass of ale, and I did so. There come the jurors,” added Willis, “and, see! The prisoners! The witches!”
“I see them not,” I said looking all about. There were a few women present, but none of these seemed to be in custody.
“Farther to the left,” said Willis, “mark where Constable George Locker, and his companion, Jonathan Putnam sit?”
“Aye, I see.”
“Note the two women next to them?”
“Yes.”
“They be the witches. Lord prevent that they cast their eyes this way!”way!” and back the inn keeper shrank into his seat.
One of the prisoners was a young girl, as fair as one could wish. The other was an Indian woman, as dark as the brown bark of a pine tree. The maid sat with downcast eyes, and deadly terror written in every line of her shrinking form. The eyes of the Indian roved about, looking boldly at the people, as if she bid defiance to her enemies.
I noted that across from me a woman, or rather a maiden, sat with her head bowed on the rough bench in front of her. A cloak concealed most of her figure, and the hood of the garment was drawn up over her head. From this covering a dark ringlet of hair had escaped, and rested lightly on her white cheek. Her little hand, with the pink nails showing against the white flesh, grasped the edge of the seat tightly.
I nudged Master Willis, and asked in a low tone who she was. He did not hear me, for just then the court criers entered, calling loudly for silence. There was a pause, and then, slowly, and with becoming dignity, the dark gowned judges made their appearance.
“Their Honors, Judges John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin,” said Willis. “The trial will begin directly now.”
CHAPTER III.
THE TRIAL.
The cries of “Silence” by the constables were some time in being of effect, so anxious were the people without to get in. The efforts of those inside to secure places of vantage was also the cause of some confusion and noise, but, at length, order was obtained. The learned looking judges, with their wigs and gowns, whispered to each other, and then to the clerk. There was some passing of papers back and forth among them, and then Clark Sewall, clearing his voice importantly, read from a parchment he held:
“Indictment of Tituba, the Indian, and of Marie de Guilfort. The jurors for our Sovereign Lord and Lady, King William and Queen Mary, do present that you, Tituba, the Indian, and Marie de Guilfort, in the county of Essex, upon the 26th day of February, in the fourth year of the reign of our Sovereign Lieges, rulers, by the grace of God, over England, Ireland, Scotland and France, King and Queen, defenders of the faith; divers other days and times, as well as before and after, certain detestable arts called witchcraft and sorceries, wickedly and feloniously, hath used, preached, exercised, at and within the township of Salem aforesaid, in and upon and against Elizabeth Parris and Abigaile Williams. By which said wicked arts the said children are hurt and tortured, afflicted, pined, consumed, wasted and tormented. And also for sundry acts of witchcraft, by the said Tituba and Marie committed and done before and since that time, against the peace of our Sovereign Lord and Lady, their Crown and dignity, and against the forms of statutes in that case made and provided.”
All this the clerk read, scarce pausing for breath, and, when he had finished, a sound like a great sigh went up from the people.
“Terrible! Oh, most terrible!” whispered Willis.
“Out upon you,” I exclaimed. “ ’Tis naught but a lot of high sounding law terms. Master Sewall has a pretty trick of rolling them off his tongue.”
I glanced at the prisoners, who had been led to chairs on the high platform near the judges’ desks. She, who was called Marie, looked straight over the heads of the crowd, right down to where I sat. Her eyes roved on past me to the shrinking form of the maiden at my right. The latter raised her head, her eyes dim with tears.
While I watched her lips moved, as if in prayer, and she stretched out her arms to the beautiful girl on the stand.
“Who is the maid at our right?” I asked of Willis.
“ ’Tis Lucille, the cousin of Marie,” he answered.
Just then Lucille turned her head, and her eyes met mine. Full half a minute we gazed at each other, and though I know not the import of the message that came from her eyes, it was like one that would make me do her bidding, even though death stood in the way.
The indictment having been read the witnesses against the accused were called. The mother of Elizabeth mounted the stand, and began giving her testimony in a dull, monotonous tone.
She told how the two children were of a sudden stricken into fits one day, which illness Dr. Clarke was not able to allay. Then the children cried out that some one was thrusting pins in them. Dr. Jacobs related how he had been called in, and, finding no evident cause for the ailments, had concluded, with Dr. Clarke, that the girls were possessed by witches. How the learned men arrived at this conclusion they said not.
Then came strange testimony. Dr. Jacobs told how he had cautioned Mistress Parris to hang the children’s blankets near the fireplace at night, burning whatever fell therefrom. A great toad dropped out, the woman said, and a boy caught the reptile up with the tongs, and threw it in the fire. It exploded with a noise like gun powder, and the next day Tituba was found to be burned on the left cheek, which made it plain that she had changed herself into a toad for the purpose of tormenting the children. What further proof was wanting? If there was it would seem to have been furnished by the girls themselves.
They were brought into court, trembling and shrinking back. And then, suddenly, with mine own eyes, I saw them fall down in strange fits, the like of which I had never seen before. They cried that pins and knives were being stuck into them by Marie and Tituba. Though how that could be I fathomed not, for the hapless women never moved from their seats. But a murmer went around, and the judges, nodding their heads, looked grave.
Next Farmer John Sloan related how he was removing his hay from the meadow, using three carts.
“And, your Honors,” he said, “when I passed Tituba’s house one of the wheels touched her gate post, and she muttered an evil spell against me. After that the cart was overturned, though the road was without ruts. Coming from the field on the next trip the cart did somehow fasten itself between two gate posts, so that they had to be cut away ere the cart could be drawn through. Yet neither the wheels nor the sides nor any part of the cart did touch the posts.”
“ ’Tis enough,” broke in Judge Corwin. “Do you question the prisoners, Judge Hathorne. Let not the day of judgment be stayed. A great evil is upon the land, and must be purged away.”
Judge Hathorne asked Tituba what evil spirit she had familiarity with, and whether she had ever seen the Devil.
Then of a sudden she rose in her chair. She let her eyes rove over the room, while the whole assemblage, judges, jurors, and all save myself, cowered in their seats.
“Aye,” she shrieked, “aye, I have seen him. He came to me in his chariot of fire, and bade me serve him. I dared not say him nay. Also have I seen two rats, a red one and a white one. And