Pauline Bradford Mackie

“ Deliverance knitted her brows, and strove to think of something comforting she could say, for the woman’s words troubled her heart. Suddenly she sat up eagerly, and there was a ring of hope in her sweet, young voice.
“I remember summat which will comfort ye,” she cried, “and I doubt not the Lord in His mercy put it into my mind to tell ye.” She paused a moment to collect her thoughts.
“I am waiting,” said the woman, wistfully; “dear child, keep me not waiting.”
“Listen,” said Deliverance, solemnly; “there be a boy in the village and his name be Submit Hodge. ”

“ Abigail pushed away the vines to read the motto printed on the dial. “‘I marke the Time; saye, gossip, dost thou soe,’” she read unconsciously aloud.
“Time,” echoed Master Ronald, catching the word, “time.” He shrugged his shoulders. “What is more perverse than time? It takes all my philosophy to bear with it, and I oft wonder why ’twas e’er put in the world. ’Tis like a wind that blows first hot then cold. It must needs stand still when you most wish it to speed, and when you would fain have it stand still, it goes at a gallop.” ”

“ At the foot of this scaffold, the driver stopped. Deliverance was bidden to step out. Attended by the guard, she ascended the ladder. Only one instinct remained to the heart-broken child, and that was to clasp still closer to her breast the little kitten, the one faithful and loving friend who clung to her in this dread hour.
“Deliverance Wentworth,” spoke the minister in a loud, clear voice, “will you, while there is yet time, confess your sin of witchery, or will you be launched into eternity to the loss of your immortal soul?” ”

“ Master Wentworth was a man of dignity and high repute in those parts.
As the two walked home hand in hand, Deliverance, with many tears, related the morning’s events; how in some anger she had rapped Ebenezer Gibbs’ head with her thimble, and how he had cried thereat.
“I am ashamed of you, Deliverance,” said her father. “Have you no heart of grace that you must needs be filled with evil and violence because of the naughtiness of a little child? ”

“ Young Wentworth made no reply save by a groan. “Long have I misdoubted these trials for witchery,” he muttered. “It tempts one to atheism. She, Deliverance, a witch, to be cast into prison! a light-hearted, careless child! God himself will pour out His righteous wrath upon her judges if they so much as let a hair of her head be harmed. They have convicted her falsely, falsely! Come,” he cried, turning fiercely upon Abigail, “come, we will rouse the town! ”

“ The crying-corner was the place where the children stood to weep after they had been punished. Pathetic record of childish grief was this corner, the pine boards black with the imprint of small grimy fingers and spotted with tears from little wet faces. Doubtless Deliverance rapped the offender more severely than she intended, for he wept steadily. Although she knew he deserved the reproof, his crying smote her heart sorely.
“Ebenezer Gibbs,” she said, after a while, “when ye think ye have weeped sufficient long, ye can take your seat.” ”

“ An apple tree growing in Prison Lane thrust its twigs and leaves between the bars. A straw bed was the only furniture. An iron chain, nearly the length of the cell, was coiled in one corner.
“Beshrew me if I like the looks o’ that chain,” said Deliverance to herself; “I be not at all minded to go in.” She wrinkled her nose and sniffed vigorously. “The place has an ill savour. Methinks the straw must be musty,” she added out loud.
“Ye shall have fresh to lay on to-night,” piped the jailer, “but step in, step in.” ”

“ During his speech, Deliverance had at first listened eagerly, but, as he continued, her head sank on her breast and hope vanished. Dimly, as in a dream, she heard the judges’ voices, the whispering of the people. At last, as a voice speaking a great distance off, she heard her name spoken.
“Deliverance Wentworth,” said Chief [126] Justice Stoughton, “you are acquaint with the law. If any man or woman be a witch and hath a familiar spirit, or hath consulted with one, he or she shall be put to death. You have by full and fair trial been proven a witch and found guilty in the extreme. ”

“ Her face lighted as she spoke, for the door was flung wide and the little maid of whom they spoke entered, breathless with running.
“It be time ye were in,” frowned Goodwife Higgins, a note of relief in her sharp tone. “I gan to think a witch had catched ye.”
“Come, come, child, stand out and let us see those fine feathers which have filled your foolish pate with vanity,” cried Goody Dennison.
Deliverance sighed profoundly. “I do repent deeply that iniquity and vanity should have filled my carnal heart because o’ this fair gown o’ silk. ”

“ On the window-ledge a little yellow bird sat preening its feathers. It looked at her with its bright, black eyes and continued its dainty toilet undisturbed. Now, this was strange, for as every one knew, the wild canary was a shy bird and flew away at the least approach. The goodwife grew pale, for she feared she was in the presence of a witch, knowing that witches often took upon themselves the forms of yellow birds, that they might by such an innocent and harmless seeming, accomplish much evil among unsuspecting persons. ”

“ Alackaday, alackaday! that I should have such an enemy.”
“Who might your enemy be, good sir?” asked the little maid.
“You would not know him,” he answered. “In England he dwells,—a man of portly presence, with a dash, a swagger, a twirl of his sword. A man given o’er to dress.”
Now, in thinking he could surprise Deliverance into admitting that the fine gentleman she had met that eventful day in the forest was a man of such description, he was mistaken, for the little maid had been taught to keep a close mouth.
“Perchance, I had best tell you my sad tale,” continued Sir Jonathan. ”

“ Cotton Mather turned a terrible glance upon the great judge. “O fool!” he cried, “do you not perceive the work of the Devil in all this? The woman of Ipswich would have had the witch-maid saved that her own black spirit might pass into this fair child’s form, and thus, with double force, working in one body, the two witches would wreak evil on the world.”
“Nay, nay,” protested the judge, “my flesh is weaker than my willing spirit, and, I fear me, wrought upon by a fair seeming and the vanity of outward show. ”

“ He ascended the platform reserved for the judges, and seated himself. Then he laid the Bible on his knees, and folded his arms across his breast.
A pitiful wailing arose in the back of the house, and the sound of a woman’s voice hushing some one.
A man’s voice in the audience cried out, “Let the witch be hanged. She be tormenting her victim.”
“I be no witch,” cried Deliverance, shrilly. “Dear Lord, give them a sign I be no witch.” ”

“ And none of the three knew that through a blinding mist of tears she saw vanish forever the dream of a velvet gown with immoderate slashed sleeves.
So Lord Christopher went far away, but he did not go alone. He bore with him a hunchback of Ipswich whose mother [319] had been hanged as a witch on Gallows’ Hill. Thus it sometimes happens that they who have had least to do with a brave deed do, by some happy chance, reap the richest benefit of another’s nobility. And thus it was with this little Hate-Evil. He found himself no longer alone in the world. ”

“ The student, looking at the little maid’s troubled, tear-stained countenance, smiled in a faint, pitiful fashion, bidding her have hope and cheer. But his voice faltered and broke.
Something in his smile arrested Abigail’s [212] attention. Suddenly, a light of recognition breaking over her face, she put forth her hands, crying joyfully: “Ye be Ronald. Ye be Deliverance’s brother. She telled me to look for ye, but I ne’er suspicioned it to be ye. But when ye smiled I thought o’ her, and now I have remembrance o’ having seen ye in Salem Town.” ”

“ Having delivered himself of these words he raised the Bible and read a stretch therefrom. “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live, neither wizards that peep and mutter.... Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after them to be defiled by them.” He closed the book and removed his spectacles. Then he lifted his staff and tapped Deliverance on the shoulder. “I arrest ye in the name of the law,” he cried in a loud voice, “to await your trial for witchery, ye having grievously afflicted your victim, Ebenezer Gibbs.” ”

“ But strange rumours were afloat regarding Deliverance Wentworth. Sir Jonathan’s words were on every gossip’s tongue: “Gossips, take care lest you harbour a witch in yonder girl.”
Naturally, at the convulsed child’s words, which seemed a confirmation of that warning, the good people drew away, shuddering, each man pressing against his neighbour, until they formed a circle a good distance back from the little assistant teacher of the Dame School. ”

“ When birds do sing, hey-ding-a-ding, ding,
Sweet lovers love the spring.”
“Beshrew me,” remarked Abigail, taking a bite of her apple, “but ye sing strange songs in Boston Town.”
“Did ye ne’er hear tell of Willie Shakespeare, the play-actor,” cried the student. “I am amazed, sore amazed, at your ignorance. Many a rare rhyme has he written, God rest his bones, and betwixt you and me, I, as a Fellow of Harvard, privileged to be learned, find that there are times when his poesy rings with more relish in my ears than the psalms. ”

“ Black man did tender a book unto them, soliciting them to enter into a league with his Master, and when they refused this abominable spectre, did summon his demons to torture these poor people, until by reason of their weak flesh, but against their real desires, they signed themselves to be the servants of the Devil forever,—and, I repeat, that when I reflect on this, that they who were hearty and of mature age could not withstand the torture of being twisted and pricked and pulled, and scalded with burning brimstone, how much less could a weak, tender maid resist their evil assaults? ”

“ Master Wentworth came out from the still-room, a bunch of yarrow under one arm, and holding the mortar bowl.
“What ungodly racket is this?” he asked. “Is a man to find no peace in his own house?”
Upon hearing his voice, Goodwife Higgins’ fright somewhat abated. She drew down her apron, and pointed speechlessly to Deliverance who was rigid with terror.
“Lord bless us!” cried the goodman. “Have you no wits at all, woman?” He laid the bowl on the table, unconsciously letting the herbs slip to the floor, and hastened to Deliverance’s assistance. ”

“ The mellow light of the departing day flashed upon the spear-heads and muskets and the burnished armour of mounted soldiers drawn up into a group on the further side of the street. Near by a Moor held two saddle-horses, one of the steeds having a pillion. She [259] saw the students all tumble pellmell off the fence when Lady Phipps appeared, breathless with running, her fine black eyes flashing, as she lamented her lily-stalks. But the student who had fallen picked himself up and handed one of the broken stalks to her, with so much grace that she smiled and went back into the house. ”

“ Quietly the old jailer swung open the door.
Cotton Mather saw a little maiden seated on a straw pallet, knitting. Some wisps of the straw clung to her fair hair, some to her linsey-woolsey petticoat. Where the iron ring had slipped on her white ankle was a red mark.
All the colour went from Deliverance’s [176] face as she looked up and perceived her visitor. Before his stern gaze she trembled, and her head drooped, and she ceased her knitting. The ball of yarn rolled out from her lap over to the young minister’s feet. ”

“ Also, he did look at me o’er his spectacles in a most awesome, stern, and righteous fashion, for he said I ‘drew iniquity with a cord o’ vanity and sin with a cart-rope.’ Then he read a stretch from the Bible, warning me to repent, lest I grow like those who ‘walk with outstretched necks, mincing as they go.’” She sighed: “Ye ken not, sir, how weary one grows, standing on a block, blinking o’ the sun, first resting on your heels, then tipping forward on your toes, and finding no ease. About the tenth hour, as I could see by the sun-dial, there comes Abigail Brewster walking with her father. ”

“ She had but a dull sense of many people, and that the sun had never shone so brightly before. She was dazed by [289] terror and grief, and a stupor crept over her, so that her head hung heavily on her breast and her limbs seemed cold and of leaden weight.
The cart passed out of the street into a rocky path, and ascended by imperceptible degrees to the summit of a low, green hill.
The little maid lifted her head and looked steadfastly at the scaffold there erected. On the platform she saw the figures of the minister and the hangman, dark against the blue sky. ”

“ The sky, lately so blue, grew leaden gray. So dark it became, that but few could see to read the psalms. Thunder as yet distant could be heard, and the roaring of the wind in the tree-tops, and ever in the pauses of the storm, the ominous booming of the ocean.
The watchman came inside. The tithing-man closed and bolted the great door.
The minister prayed fervently for mercy. None present but believed that an assault of the demons upon God’s house was about to be made.
The rain began to fall heavily, beating [67] in at places through the rafters. ”

“ Thus I would make an example of the little maid whom you have persecuted, that you may deal gently with children, remembering how near you were to shedding her innocent blood. I beseech you, by the grievous sin that you and your learned judges so nearly committed, to be tender with the poor children, knowing they speak the truth, unless you do so fright them that in bewilderment they seek to save themselves by a falsehood and know not into what evil they fall thereby. ”