ple of witchcraft."

At this Charles laughed, and Mr. Parris was shocked at his scepticism.

"Wherefore do you laugh, unregenerated youth?" cried the pastor.

"A witch! I believe there are no witches," he answered.

"Would you believe your eyes, young sceptic?"

"I might even doubt my own eyes."

"Wherefore would you?"

"Nothing is more deceptive than sight; optical delusions are common. Did
you see a witch?"

"Not myself; but others did."

"Who?"

"John, Tituba and Ann Parris saw the witches dancing on the ceiling,
with their feet up and their heads down."

At this Charles Stevens again laughed and answered:

"Verily you are mad, Mr. Parris, to believe what those lying negroes
say. They have persuaded the child into the belief that she sees strange
sights."

Mr. Parris became greatly excited and cried:

"The maid sees the shape of Goody Nurse and the black man at night. They
come and choke her, to make her sign the book."

"What book?"

"The devil's book. Do you not remember some time ago a stranger was at
your house, who mysteriously disappeared?" Of course Charles remembered.
He had never forgotten that mysterious stranger, and often wondered what
had been his fate.

"The same shape appeared before John Louder in the forest, where he had
gone to stalk deer, and asked him to sign the red book in which is
recorded the souls of the damned."

This was the frightful story told by Louder on his return from the
night's hunt, and many of the credulous New Englanders believed him. Mr.
Parris, having become warmed up on his subject, resumed:

"Charles, Charles, shake off the hard yoke of the devil. Where 'tis
said, 'the whole world lies in wickedness,' 'tis by some of the ancients
rendered, 'the whole world lies in the devil.' The devil is a prince,
yea, the devil is a god unto all the unregenerate, and, alas, there is a
whole world of them. Desolate sinner, consider what a horrid lord it is
you are enslaved unto, and oh, shake off the slavery of such a lord."

Charles was unprepared for such a sermon, and had no desire to be bored
with it, yet he was left without choice in the matter.

The young widow came to his relief and took him off under her protection
and soon made him forget that he had ever been rebuked by the parson.
Certainly, he had never met a more agreeable person than Sarah Williams.
Her husband was a brother of Mrs. Parris, and she wielded a great
influence in the minister's family. G