and because of these abominations, the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee.’  Again, it is said in Leviticus, that ’the Lord setteth his face against such, to cut them off.’  And in Exodus, the law is expressly laid down thus—­’THOU SHALT NOT SUFFER A WITCH TO LIVE.’  There is no escape for her, you see.  By the divine command she must perish, and human justice must; carry out the decree.  Nicholas, I am one of the offenders thus denounced, thus condemned.  I have practised witchcraft, consulted with familiar spirits, and done other abominations in the sight of Heaven; and I ought to pay the full penalty of my offences.”

“Do not, I beseech you, madam,” replied the squire, “continue to take this view of your case.  However you have sinned, you have made amends by the depth and sincerity of your repentance.  Your days and nights—­for you allow yourself only such rest as nature forces on you, and take even that most unwillingly—­are passed in constant prayer.  Your abstinence is severer than any anchoress ever practised, for I am sure for the last month you have not taken as much food altogether as I consume in a day; while, not content with this, you perform acts of penance that afflict me beyond measure to think upon, and which I have striven in vain to induce you to forego.  There will be no occasion to deliver yourself up to justice, madam; for, if you go on thus, and do not deal with yourself a little more mildly, your accounts with this world will be speedily settled.”

“And I should rejoice to think so, Nicholas,” replied Mistress Nutter, “if I had any hope in the world to come.  But, alas!  I have none.  I cannot, by any act of penitence and contrition, expiate my offences.  My soul is darkened by despair.  I know I ought to give myself up—­that Heaven and man alike require my life, and I cannot reconcile myself to avoiding my just doom.”

“It is the Evil One who puts these thoughts into your head,” replied Nicholas, “and who fills your heart with promptings of despair, that he may again obtain the mastery over it.  But take a calmer and more consolatory view of your condition.  Human justice may require a public sacrifice as an example, but Heaven, will be satisfied with contrition in secret.”

“I trust so,” replied the lady, vainly striving to draw comfort from his words.  “Oh, Nicholas! you do not know the temptations I am exposed to in this chamber—­the difficulty I experience in keeping my thoughts fixed on one object—­the distractions I undergo—­the mental obscurations—­the faintings of spirit—­the bodily prostration—­the terrors, the inconceivable terrors, that assail me.  Sometimes I wish my spirit would flee away, and be at rest.  Rest! there is none for me—­none in the grave—­none beyond the grave—­and therefore I am afraid of death, and still more of the judgment after death!  Man might inflict all the tortures he could devise upon this poor frame.  I would bear them all with patience, with delight, if I thought they would purchase me immunity hereafter!  But with the dread conviction, the almost certainty, that it will be otherwise, I can only look to the final consummation with despair!”