aforesaid Andrew, to whom we of our grace have
granted that she may collect together the bones
of the same Andrew, and commit them to holy

sepulture whenever she wishes, or to her
attorney. And this you shall in no wise omit.
Witness the King, at York, the 10th day of August,
by the King himself."

The like letters are directed to the authorities
of the towns in which the earl's remains
had been exposed. The record of this mandate
is on the Close roll of the tenth year of King
Edward the Third, among the great Chancery
records of the country.

LOIS THE WITCH.

PART THE THIRD.

"THE sin of witchcraft." We read about it,
we look on it from the outside; but we can
hardly realise the terror it induced. Every
impulsive or unaccustomed action, every little
nervous affection, every ache or pain was noticed,
not merely by those around the sufferer, but by
the person himself, whoever he might be, that
was acting, or being acted upon, in any but the
most simple and ordinary manner. He or she
(for it was most frequently a woman or girl that
was the supposed subject) felt a desire for some
unusual kind of food—some unusual motion or
rest—her hand twitched, her foot was asleep, or
her leg had the cramp; and the dreadful question
immediately suggested itself, "Is anyone
possessing an evil power over me by the help of
Satan?" and perhaps they went on to think, "It
is bad enough to feel that my body can be made
to suffer through the power of some unknown
evil-wisher to me, but what if Satan gives them
still further power, and they can touch my soul,
and inspire me with loathful thoughts leading
me into crimes which at present I abhor?" and
so on, till the very dread of what might happen,
and the constant dwelling of the thoughts, even
with horror, upon certain possibilities, or what
were esteemed such, really brought about the
corruption of imagination at least, which at
first they had shuddered at. Moreover, there
was a sort of uncertainty as to who might be
infected—not unlike the overpowering dread of
the plague, which made some shrink from their
best-beloved with irrepressible fear—the brother
or sister who was the dearest friend of their
childhood and youth, might now be bound in
some mysterious deadly pact with evil spirits of
the most horrible kind—who could tell? And
in such a case it became a duty, a sacred duty,
to give up the earthly body which had been
once so loved, but which was now the habitation
of a soul corrupt and horrible in its evil inclinations.
Possibly, terror of death might bring on
confession, and repentance, and purification. Or
if it did not, why away with the evil creature,
the witch, out of the world, down to the kingdom
of the master whose bidding was done on
earth in all manner of corruption and torture of
God's creatures. There were others who, with
these more simple, if more ignorant, feelings of
horror at witches and witchcraft, added the
desire, conscious or unconscious, of revenge on
those whose conduct had been in any way
displeasing to them. Where evidence takes a
supernatural character, there is no disproving it.
This argument comes up: "You have only
the natural powers; I have supernatural. You
admit the existence of the supernatural by the
condemnation of this very crime of witchcraft.
You hardly know the limits of the natural
powers; how then can you define the
supernatural? I say that in the dead of night,
when my body seemed to all present to be lying
in quiet sleep, I was in the most complete and
wakeful consciousness, present in my body at
an assembly of witches and wizards with Satan at
their head; that I was by them tortured in
my body because my soul would not acknowledge
him as its king; that I witnessed such and such
deeds. What the nature of the
appearance was that took the semblance of myself,
sleeping quietly in my bed, I know not; but
once admit the possibility of witchcraft, and
you cannot disprove my evidence." This
evidence might be given truly or falsely, as the
person witnessing believed it or not; but every
one must see what immense and terrible power
was abroad for revenge. Then, again, the
accused themselves ministered to the horrible panic
abroad. Some, in dread of death, confessed from
cowardice to the imaginary crimes of which they
were accused, and of which they were promised
a pardon on confession. Some, weak and terrified,
came honestly to believe in their own guilt,
through the diseases of imagination which
were sure to be engendered at such a time as this.

Lois sat spinning with Faith. Both were
silent, pondering over the stories that were
abroad. Lois spoke first.

"Oh, Faith! this country is worse than ever
England was, even in the days of Master
Matthew Hopkinson, the witch-finder. I grow
frightened of every one, I think. I even get
afeard sometimes of Nattee!"

Faith coloured a little. Then she asked,

"Why? What should make you distrust the
Indian woman?"

"Oh! I am ashamed of my fear as soon as it
arises in my mind. But you know her look and
colour were strange to me when first I came;
and she is not a christened woman; and they
tell stories of Indian wizards; and I know not
what the mixtures are which she is sometimes
stirring over the fire, nor the meaning of the
strange chants she sings to herself. And once
I met her in the dusk, just close by Pastor
Tappau's house, in company with Hota, his
servant; it was just before we heard of the sore
disturbance in his house, and I have wondered
if she had aught to do with it."

Faith sat very still, as if thinking. At last
she said,

"If Nattee has powers beyond what you and
I have, she will not use them for evil; at least
not evil to those whom she loves."

"That comforts me but little," said Lois.
"If she has powers beyond what she ought to
have, I dread her though I have done her no