eupon the father, Mr. Throckmorton, went to bring her to the
house; when she hid herself in an attic or loft, barricading herself in by
sacks of wool piled up on the trapdoor. She was forced to come down at
last, and her fear was made the chief evidence against her. The hour had
come round for her on Time's cruel dial, and she could not escape the
inevitable decree that had gone forth. All this while the old mother was
forcibly detained at Mr. Throckmorton's house; the children pretending
that they could be well only in her presence, and absolutely refusing to
let her go, though she was sick and fearful and weary, and cried to get
home again to her daughter and husband. That uncompromising oaken cudgel
of his was less terrible than the awful suspicion under which she was
living here; and the harassing uncertainty of her life--never knowing what
new lie the children might frame against her, nor how much nearer they
might bring her to the gallows by some wicked fancy or delusion--was
infinitely worse than all the oaths and ill-usage of home, of which she
knew at least the extent and end. She seems to have been a gentle-spirited
old creature in spite of her crusty tongue; and at the beck of every one
who chose to knock her about and require from her service and submission.
When Mr. Throckmorton had teased and threatened and exhorted her, till she
was completely "dazed and mazed" with all she heard--and when the children
had acted their fits with such power and accuracy that they simulated
nature to the life, and had impressed even her with all the wicked things
which their Spirits told them of her and of her daughter--her mind,
enfeebled by suffering and terror, gave way, and she was deluded into a
confession of sin and penitence; after which she obtained leave to go
home. As her husband gave her but a harsh welcome, angry with her for her
weakness in confessing, she recanted as of course; when Mr. Throckmorton,
getting hold of her by an open window beneath which his friends were
stationed, bullied and deluded her once more into making a confession
which they might hear; and on the strength of which he carried off both
dame and daughter, to be examined by the Bishop of Lincoln.

The Bishop found her easy. Yes, she had an imp; a dun chicken which sucked
on her chin, and which she had sent to torment the Throckmorton girls. The
dun chicken and the rest of the spirits were now at the bottom of her
stomach, and made her so full