mies,"
responded Master Raymond.

"Of course--if there was any show of reason or fairness in the
prosecutions, from first to last; but as it is all sheer malice and
wickedness, on the part of the accusers, from the beginning to the end,
it would be vain to expect any reasonableness or fairness from them."

"We must admit, however, that there is some delusion in it. It would be
too uncharitable to believe otherwise," said Master Raymond
thoughtfully.

"There may have been at the very first--on the part of the children,"
replied Master Putnam. "They might have supposed that Tituba and
friendless Sarah Good tormented them--but since then, there has not
been more than one part of delusion to twenty parts of wickedness. Why,
can any sane man suppose that she-wolf sister-in-law of mine does not
know she is lying, when she brings such horrible charges against the
best men and women in Salem?"

"No, I give up Mistress Ann, she is possessed by a lying devil,"
admitted Master Raymond.

"It is well she does not hear that speech," said Joseph Putnam.

"Why?"

"Because, up to this time, you seem to have managed to soften her heart
a little."

"I have tried to. I have thought myself justified in playing a part--as
King David once did you know."

"It is that which brings me here. I met her at the house of a friend
whom I called to see on some business a day or two ago."

"Ah!"

"She said to me, in that soft purring voice of hers, 'Brother Joseph, I
hear that your good friend Master Raymond is still in Boston.' I
answered that I believed he was. 'When he took leave of me,' she
continued, 'I advised him not to stay long in that town--as it was
often a bad climate for strangers. I am sorry he does not take wise
counsel.' Then she passed on, and out of the house. Have you any idea
what she meant?"

Master Raymond studied a moment over it in silence. Then he said:--"It
is the first warning of the rattlesnake, I suppose. How many do they
usually give before they spring?"

"Three, the saying goes. But I guess this rattlesnake cannot be trusted
to give more than one."

"I was convinced I saw your brother Thomas as I came ashore from the
Storm King the other day."

"Ah, that explains it then. She understands it all then. She understands
it all now just as well as if you had told her."

"But why should she pursue so fiendishly an innocent girl like Dulcibel,
who is not conscious of ever having offended her?"

"Why do ti