n his cage, hearing a knock at the front door of the
cottage. And she had just turned from the cage to take a seat, when the
door opened and two persons entered.

"I am glad to see you, friends," she said calmly, inviting them to be
seated.

It was Joseph Putnam, accompanied by his friend and visitor, Ellis
Raymond, the young man of whom Dulcibel had spoken to Jethro Sands.

Joseph Putnam was one of that somewhat distinguished family from whom
came the Putnams of Revolutionary fame; Major-General Israel Putnam, the
wolf-slayer, being one of his younger children. He, the father I mean,
was a man of fine, athletic frame, not only of body but of mind. He was
one of the very few in Salem village who despised the whole
witch-delusion from the beginning. He did not disbelieve in the
existence of witches--or that the devil was tormenting the "afflicted
children"--but that faith should be put in their wild stories was quite
another matter.

Of his companion, Master Ellis Raymond, I find no other certain account
anywhere than in my Quaker friend's manuscript. From the little that is
there given of personal description I have only the three phrases "a
comelie young man," "a very quick-witted person," "a very determined and
courageous man," out of which to build a physical and spiritual
description. And so I think it rather safer to leave the portraiture to
the imagination of my readers.

"Do you expect to remain long in Salem?" asked Dulcibel.

"I do not know yet," was the reply. "I came that I might see what
prospects the new world holds out to young men."

"I want Master Raymond to purchase the Orchard Farm, and settle down
among us," said Joseph Putnam. "It can be bought I think."

"I have heard people say the price is a very high one," said Dulcibel.

"It is high but the land is worth the money. In twenty years it will
seem very low. My father saw the time when a good cow was worth as much
as a fifty-acre farm, but land is continually rising in value."

"I shall look farther south before deciding," said Raymond. "I am told
the land is better there; besides there are too many witches here," and
he smiled.

"We have been up to see my brother Thomas," continued Joseph Putnam. "He
always has had the reputation of being a sober-headed man, but he is all
off his balance now."

"What does Mistress Putnam say?" asked Dulcibel.

"Oh, she is at the bottom of all his craziness, she and that elfish
daughter. Sister Ann is