settling
down into an uneasy peace, after the turmoil of the Civil Wars, still
its witch hunts were even yet too recent a memory for a devoted
husband and father to hear the fatal accusation breathed against his
family without dismay. Not all a woman's youth and beauty might always
save her, if the hunt were keen. The Judge's lips were tightly pressed
together, but his unmoved countenance showed little of his inward
alarm as he gazed on the faces round him. His courteous neighbours,
who had ridden in such haste with the 'ill news' that 'travels fast,'
which of them all should enlighten him? His neighbour Captain Sands? a
jovial good-humoured man truly;--no, not he, he could not enter into a
husband and father's deep anxiety, seeing that he was ever of a
mocking disposition inwardly for all that he looked sober and scared
enough now. His brother Justice, John Sawrey? Instinctively Judge Fell
recoiled from the thought. Sawrey's countenance might be sober enough
in good sooth, seeing he was a leader among professing Puritans, but
somehow Judge Fell had always mistrusted the pompous little man. Even
bad news would be worsened if he had to hear it from those lips.
Therefore it was with considerable relief that the good Judge caught
sight of a well-known figure riding up more slowly than the others,
and now hovering on the outskirts of the group. 'The very man! My
honoured neighbour Priest Lampitt! You, the Priest of Ulverston, will
surely tell me what has befallen the members of my household, who are
likewise members of your flock?'

But the Priest's face was even gloomier than that of the other
gentlemen. In the fewest possible words, but with stinging emphasis,
he told the Judge that the news was indeed too true; his wife and
young family, yea, and even the household servants had, one and all,
been bewitched.

At this the Judge thought his wisest course was to laugh. 'Nay, nay,
good friends,' he said, 'that is too much! I know my wife. I trust her
good sense utterly. Still it is possible for even the wisest of women
to lose her judgment at times. But as for my trusty steward Thomas
Salthouse, the steadiest man I have ever had in my employ, if even old
Nick himself has managed to bewitch him, he must be a cleverer devil
than I thought.'

Then drawing himself up proudly he added, 'So now, Gentlemen, I will
thank you to submit to me your evidence for these incredible and
baseless allegations.' Priest Lampitt hastened to