“Hard riding after drinking was more likely to sober him than to kill him,” rejoined the squire.  “But, as I said just now, I like not this Mother Demdike, nor her rival in iniquity, old Mother Chattox.  The devil only knows which of the two is worst.  But if the former hag did not bewitch your husband to death, as I shrewdly suspect, it is certain that the latter mumbling old miscreant killed my elder brother, Richard, by her sorceries.”

“Mother Chattox did you a good turn then, Nicholas,” observed Mistress Nutter, “in making you master of the fair estates of Downham.”

“So far, perhaps, she might,” rejoined Nicholas, “but I do not like the manner of it, and would gladly see her burned; nay, I would fire the fagots myself.”

“You are superstitious as the rest, Nicholas,” said Mistress Nutter.  “For my part I do not believe in the existence of witches.”

“Not believe in witches, with these two living proofs to the contrary!” cried Nicholas, in amazement.  “Why, Pendle Forest swarms with witches.  They burrow in the hill-side like rabbits in a warren.  They are the terror of the whole country.  No man’s cattle, goods, nor even life, are safe from them; and the only reason why these two old hags, who hold sovereign sway over the others, have ’scaped justice so long, is because every one is afraid to go near them.  Their solitary habitations are more strongly guarded than fortresses.  Not believe in witches!  Why I should as soon misdoubt the Holy Scriptures.”

“It may be because I reside near them that I have so little apprehension, or rather no apprehension at all,” replied Mistress Nutter; “but to me Mother Demdike and Mother Chattox appear two harmless old women.”

“They’re a couple of dangerous and damnable old hags, and deserve the stake,” cried Nicholas, emphatically.

All this discourse had been swallowed with greedy ears by the ever-vigilant Master Potts, who had approached the speakers unperceived; and he now threw in a word.

“So there are suspected witches in Pendle Forest, I find,” he said.  “I shall make it my business to institute inquiries concerning them, when I visit the place to-morrow.  Even if merely ill-reputed, they must be examined, and if found innocent cleared; if not, punished according to the statute.  Our sovereign lord the king holdeth witches in especial abhorrence, and would gladly see all such noxious vermin extirpated from the land, and it will rejoice me to promote his laudable designs.  I must pray you to afford me all the assistance you can in the discovery of these dreadful delinquents, good Master Nicholas, and I will care that your services are duly represented in the proper quarter.  As I have just said, the king taketh singular interest in witchcraft, as you may judge if the learned tractate he hath put forth, in form of a dialogue, intituled “Daemonologie” hath ever met your eye; and he is never so well pleased as when the truth of his tenets are proved by such secret offenders being brought to light, and duly punished.”