would
set down the judges at once as irreligious persons, and bring in the
prisoners guilty.

"I am not so certain of it," said Ellis Raymond.

"How! What do you mean, Master Raymond?" exclaimed Joseph Putnam; like
all his family, he was orthodox to the bone in his opinions.

"My idea is that in the old times they supposed all distracted and
insane people--especially the violent ones, the maniacs--to be possessed
with devils."

"Do you think so?" queried Dulcibel in a glad voice, a light seeming to
break in upon her.

"Well, I take it for granted that there were plenty of insane people in
the old times as there are now; and yet I see no mention of them as
such, in either the Old or the New Testament."

"I never thought of that before; it seems to me a very reasonable
explanation, does it not strike you so, Master Putnam?"

"So reasonable, that it reasons away all our faith in the absolute
truthfulness of every word of the holy scriptures," replied Joseph
Putnam sternly. "Do you suppose the Evangelists, when they spoke of
persons having 'familiar spirits,' and being 'possessed of devils,' did
not know what they were talking about? I would rather believe that every
insane person now is possessed with a devil, and that such is the true
explanation of his or her insanity, than to fly in the face of the holy
scriptures as you do, Master Raymond."

Dulcibel's countenance fell. "Yes," she responded in reverential tones,
"the holy Evangelists must know best. If they said so, it must be so."

"You little orthodox darling!" thought young Master Raymond, gazing upon
her beautiful sad face. But of course he did not express himself to such
an effect, except by his gaze; and Dulcibel happening to look up and
catch the admiring expression of two clear brown eyes, turned her own
instantly down again, while a faint blush mantled her cheeks.

The young Englishman knew that in arousing such heterodox opinions he
was getting on dangerous ground. For expressing not a greater degree of
heresy than he had uttered, other men and even women had been turned
neck and heels out of the Puritan settlements. And as he had no desire
to leave Salem just at present, he began to "hedge" a little, as betting
men sometimes say.

"Insane people, maniacs especially, do sometimes act as if they were
possessed of the devil," he said frankly. "And no doubt their insanity
is often the result of the sinful indulgence of their wicked
propensities and