the
poisonous foam in the dark evening hour, on the thresholds of those
houses, in which according to evidence the plague first broke out. See
here the implements of Satan," and he rapped upon the confiscated wares
of the witch, "behold the black and white wand of Circe," said he,
taking up a half-pealed hazel-stick from the corner and handing it to
the Magister. A lurid fire gleamed in the widely distended eyes of the
young Priest, excited at the account of these horrors. "Behold,"
continued the Magistrate carried away by his own discourse, "the
hellish distillations, which she obtained drop by drop from the roots
and stalks of plants, see, how she bottled the night-dew and poison of
the fulsome toad, to sprinkle over innocent children, here in this
kettle did she boil the poisonous vapours, which rising upwards to the
clouds came down again as the seeds of pestilence, and behold moreover
how this beauteous green wooded valley is already withered by the
breath of the witch." Paul Laurenzano turned pale with excitement, his
breath came and went quickly and audibly. The old fire of fanaticism
gleamed in his dark eye. "I think I know who has concealed her," he
said with tremulous voice. "Come, I will guide you."

The Amtmann strode reverentially at the side of the young clergyman.
The soldiers followed at a short interval leading the Magistrate's
horse. Having proceeded for a brief space, the Magister left the road,
and followed the course of a stream towards a mill. "Even in Schoenau,"
he now said, "the report has spread, that the old witch brought in the
plague, and as she was not safe in her house, you will find her
concealed by the old Dissenter, Miller Werner." Behind the green
orchard, overshadowed by poplars and elders, lay the mill sought for by
the troop of police, an emblem of peace. The front window-shutters were
closed, but the clappering wheels untiringly spoke by day and night the
praise of the man, who even during these terrible times had not ceased
working, but made bread for the starving inhabitants out of the newly
gathered in harvest. The inhabitants of the mill had not heard the
arrival of the soldiers owing to the noise of the wheels, but the
Magistrate rapped loudly with the pommel of his sword on the closed
shutters.

"Don't break in my windows. Peace-breaker," called out the voice of old
Werner, "is that the way you ask for bread?" The shutter flew open and
the weather-beaten face of the gray hea