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JUST BEFORE THE STORM had broken, Mrs Nettles had answered the front door bell to adistrate was able to see hi them near the door, then escorted him into the parlor, where Woodward - still bundled up in coat and scarf as he&039;d been at the gaol - sat in a chair that had been pulled up close to the fireplace a tray across Woodward&039;s knees held a bowl of stearayish hue as the color of his face, and Woodward had been stirring his dinner with a spoon to cool it

"Pardon ," Woodhispered

"No pardon necessary between Oxford brothers, sir"

"Mr Bidwell is in his study with Mr Winston," Mrs Nettles said "Shall I fetch &039;imi"

"No, I won&039;t disturb their work," Johnstone said, leaning on his cane Woodward noted he igless this evening, his light brown hair shorn close to the scalp "I have business with the esture of respect and left the parlor

Johnstone watched thehis pap "That doesn&039;t look very appetizing

"Doctor&039;s orders all I can s"

"Yes, I had a talk with Dr Shields thisI&039;m sorry you&039;re in such a condition He bled you, I understand"

Woodward nodded "More bleeding Yet to be done"

"Well, it is helpful to drain the corrupted fluids Might I sit downi" He motioned toward a nearby chair, and Woodhispered, "Yes, please do" Johnstone, with the aid of his cane, eased his out toward the crackling fire Rain began to beat at the shuttered s Woodward took a taste of the pap and found it just the same as what he&039;d eaten at ed he could not s pinewood

"I won&039;t take much of your time," Johnstone said "I did wish to ask how the trial was co"

"Over The last witness has been heard"

"Then I presui Tomorrow, perhapsi"

"Not tomorrow I must review the testimony"

"I see But your decision will be made by the end of the weeki" Johnstone waited for Woodward to nod his assent "You have a responsibility I do not envy," he continued "Sentencing a woman to death by fire is not a kind job"

"It is not," Woodward answered between ss of pap, "a kind world"

"Granted We have coan our careers as shining lalass But tell ood conscience sentence Rachel Howarth to death without yourself seeing evidence of her supposed witchcrafti"

Woodward paused in bringing another spoonful of pap to his istrates of Salem"

"ah, yes Infamous Salem But you&039;re aware, of course, that since the incident in Saleuilt and innocence" His right hand settled on the e it "Thete are some who believe the incident in Salem resulted in the execution of persons ere either mentally unbalanced or falsely accused"

"and soet a breath, "Christ was served and Satan vanquished"

"Oh, Satan is never vanquished You know that as well as anyone In fact, one le innocent person died at Salem, the Devil&039;s ell and truly done, for the souls of the istrates themselves were corrupted" Johnstone stared into the flath "I consider myself a man of the here-and-now, not a ments of the past I believe in God&039;s power and I trust in the wisdom of Christbut I have difficulty with this question of witchcraft, sir It see"

"Doubtfuli" Woodward asked "You doubt the witnesses, theni"

"I don&039;t know" The schoolmaster shook his head "I can&039;t understand why such elaborate lies should be produced against Madaht to be, by the way, a very dignified and intelligent woman Of course she did - and does - have her ene-spirited woman as she is could not fail to have enemies Constance adams is one of theue, but she passed away in late March a nued when Madauese and of such dark coloring They wanted her to go worship in the slave quarters"

"The slaves have a churchi"

"a shed that serves the purpose anyway, since the day Madam Howarth set foot in church, she was the object of bitter resent for a reason to openly despise her The nature of her heritage - and the fact that she&039;d married a et of scorn since she and Daniel arrived here"

"Howarth ealthyi" Woodward asked, his pap-loaded spoon poised near his h not in the sense of Bidwell&039;s wealth, of course The Howarth land is larger than most of the other farms He did have some money, as I understand"

"Money froinia From what I heard, he&039;d suffered some bad luck a shipment was lost at sea, another ship problem with a tax collector as I understand, Daniel si his business He was married to another woman at that point, but I don&039;t know if she died or returned to England Some women can&039;t stand the New World, you know"

"Your oife being an examplei" Woodhispered before he slid the spoon of pap into his aret" Johnstone offered a thin s questions He said that somehow - he couldn&039;t quite recall - you had wandered onto that field where Margaret lies buried Figuratively speaking, of course No, Margaret lives with her faed "I suppose she does, if they haven&039;t locked her up in Bedlam yet She was - to be kind - ors of life in Fount Royal ht balance in the ruht and shadowson his thin-nosed, aristocratic face "I expect Ben - knowing Ben as I do - has told you also of Margaret&039;sumindiscretionsi"

"Yes"

"The one in particular, with that Noles bastard, was the worst The aret - hen I in and comported herself as a proper lady - to have fallen to his level was the final insult toFount Royal and everyone in it It was for the best that I took her where she belonged" He looked at Woodith a pained expression "Soe, no matter how hard one tries to deny it Do you understand what I ile voice His own face had taken on some pain He stared into the fire "I do understand"

The schoolmaster continued to rub his defors Outside, the sound of rain had become a dull roar "This weather," Johnstone said, "plays hell with my knee Too much daetting his feet wet He&039;s caave a sermon that I understand sent a few people into spasms and separated them from their coins as well Of course, the subject of his speech was Rachel Howarth, and how her evil has contaminated the whole of Fount Royal He mentioned you by name as one of those so afflicted, as well as your clerk, Nicholas Paine, and myself"

"I&039; the preacher&039;s opinion of me," Johnstone said, "I suppose I&039;m here to plead for Madam Howarth It just makes no sense to me that she would commit two murders, much less take up witchcraft I&039;ood character, butso, sir If I were you, I&039;d be wary of rushing to pass sentence no matter how ," Woodward replied stiffly "I setotherwise But it appears there is so put upon you I understand hoell feels Fount Royal is so endangered, and it&039;s certainly true that the town is being vacated at an alar don&039;t helpthe power of destruction beyond the gaol&039;s walls"

"Your opinion"

"Yes, my opinion I&039;m aware that you have more experience in these e to you that the Devil should so openly reveal himself about towni and it seems to me quite peculiar that a woman who can burn down houses at a distance can&039;t free herself from a rusty lock"

"The nature of evil," Woodward said as he ate another spoonful of the tasteless reed But I would think Satan would be ical It appears to reat pains tous, and that her name was Rachel Howarth"

after a e Still, we have the witnesses"

"Yes, the witnesses" Johnstone frowned, his gaze fixed upon the fire "a puzzle, it seems Unlessone considers the possibility that - as ht wish to deny it - Satan is indeed at work in Fount Royal, and has given Madam Howarth&039;s face to the true witch Or warlock, as the case ht be"

Woodward had been about to eat the last s of his pap, but he paused in lifting the spoon This idea advanced by Johnstone had never occurred to him Still, it was only an idea, and the witnesses had sworn on the Bible But what if the witnesses had been the iti What if they had been led to believe they were viewing Madam Howarth, when indeed it was noti and when Satan had spoken Madam Howarth&039;s na to shield the identity of the true witchi

No! There was the evidence of the poppets found in Madam Howarth&039;s house! But, as Matthew had pointed out, the house was eht have secreted theht have slipped the vision into Madam Grunewald&039;s dreams, and thereby the poppets were discovered

Was it possible - only by the sli person was behind bars, and the real witch still freei

"I don&039;t wish to cloud your thinking," Johnstone said in response to the e a rush to execute Mada said, I have to ask if you have progressed any in your search for the thief"

"The thiefi" It took Woodward a few seconds to shift his thoughts to the ress"

"Well, Ben also informed me that you and your clerk had questions about my knee, and if I was able to climb the staircase or not I suppose I could, if I had to But I&039;m flattered that you would consider I could move as quickly as the thief evidently did" The school at the knee "I wish you to judge for yourself"

"Uhit isn&039;t necessary," Woodhispered

"Oh, but it is! I want you to see" He pulled the breeches leg back and then rolled his stocking down a bandage had been secured around the knee, and this Johnstone began to slowly unwrap When he was finished, he turned his leg so as to offer Woodward a clear view of the deforrimly "My pride"

Woodward saw that a leather brace was buckled around Johnstone&039;s knee, but the kneecap itself was fully exposed It was the size of a knotty fist, gray-colored and glistening with some kind of oil The bone itself appeared terriblythe top of the kneecap and then for a concavity at the knee&039;s center Woodward found hiht

"alan! We heard the bell, but why didn&039;t you announce yourselfi" Bidwell had just entered the parlor, with Winston a few steps behind hiistrate I wished to show him my knee Would you care to looki"

"No, thank you," Bidwell said, as politely as possible

But Winston came forward and craned his neck He wrinkled up his nose as he reached the fireside "My Lord, what&039;s that ssfat ointment Ben sells me," Johnstone explained "as the weather is so daht I apologize for the odor" Woodward, because his nostrils were blocked, could s Winston came a couple of steps closer to view the knee but then he retreated with as e

"I realize it&039;s not a pretty sight" Johnstone extended his index finger and e and down into the concavity, an exploration that istrate&039;s spine crawl Woodward had to look away, choosing to stare into the fire "Unfortunately, it is part of randfather - Linus by naood weather it has decentlately it behaves rather badly Would you care for a closer inspectioni"

"No," Woodward said Johnstone gave his knee an affectionate pat and wrapped the bandage around it once more

"Is there a point to this, alani" Bidwell asked

"I aistrate&039;s inquiry as to whether my condition would allow me to take your staircase at any speed"

"Oh, that" Bidwell came over to the fireplace and offered his pal back up and rebuttoned the breeches leg "Yes, the istrate&039;s clerk advanced one of his rather dubious theories concerning your knee He said - "

" - that he wondered if ," Johnstone interrupted "Ben toldtheory, but somewhat flawed Robert, I&039;ve been in Fount Royal for - whati - three years or thereaboutsi Have you ever seen me ithout the aid of , ould be the reason for iri" Johnstone was addressing this question to Woodward "By God&039;s grace, I wish I could run down a staircase! I wish I could ithout putting ht on a stick!" Heat had crept into the schoolure at Oxford, as you can i and the quick, and I was forced to carryold man! But I proved myself in the classroom, that&039;s what I did! I could not throwfield, but I did throw myself into my studies, and thereafter I became president of my social club!"

"The Hellfires, I presumei" Woodward asked

"No, not the Hellfires The Ruskins We es, but ere rather more studious Quite a bit more timid, to be truthful" Johnstone seemed to realize he had displayed soain under firive my outburst," he said "I am not a self-pitier and I wish no pity froood at what I do"

"Hear, hear!" Winston said "Magistrate, alan has shown himself to be an excellent schoolmaster Before he came, school was held in a barn and our teacher was an older man who didn&039;t have near alan&039;s qualifications"

"That&039;s right," Bidwell added "Upon alan&039;s arrival here, he insisted a schoolhouse be built and regular lessons begun in the basics of reading, writing, and arithht many of the farmers and their children horite their own na of the schoolhouse to the female children is a bit too liberal for ht even sayhtly wearied sound of soain "I believe at least one member of every family should be able to read If that is a wife or a female child, then so be it"

"Yes, but alan&039;s had to pry some of these children away from their families," Winston said "Like Violet adarain of these rustics"

"Violet approachedto learn to read the Bible, as neither of her parents were able How could I refuse heri Oh, Martin and Constance at first were set against it, but I convinced the is not a dishonorable exercise, and thereby Violet would please the Lord after the child&039;s experience, however, she was forbidden to attend school again a pity, too, because Violet is a bright child Wellenough of this horn blowing" The schoolmaster braced himself with his cane and stood up froets any worse It was a pleasure speaking with you, Magistrate I hope you&039;re soon feeling better"

"Oh, he shall!" Bidwell spoke up "Ben&039;s co before Isaac is as fit as a racehorse!"

Woodward summoned a frail smile Never in his life had he been a racehorse a workhorse, yes, but never a racehorse and noas Isaac to the master of Fount Royal, since the trial had ended and sentencing was iet his coat and tricorn before he braved the rain Winston came forward to stand before the fire The flalass of his spectacles "a chill wind in May!" he said "I thought I&039;d left such a thing behind in London! But it&039;s not so bad when one has a house as grand as this in which to bask, is iti" Woodward didn&039;t knohether to nod or shake his head, so he did neither

Winston rubbed his hands together "Unfortunately, ht like an oar-boat But I shall endure it Yes, I shall Just as Mr Bidwell has said at times of business crisis: whatever tribulations may come, they mold the character of the ain, after seeing Johnstone off

"Nothing, sir," Winston replied "I was thinking aloud, that&039;s all" He turned froistrate that our sorry weather is one ainst us, as we&039;ve never been struck with such damp misery before"