Part 30 (1/2)

Of course Adams spoke up. ”It were in the Hamilton house. Where the Hamiltons used to live 'fore they took up and went. On Industry Street, 'bout three houses shy of our'n.”

”All right. I presume the Hamiltons had left before this sighting took place?”

”They was gone right after the witch murdered Dan'l. Abby Hamilton knowed it was that woman's doin'. She told my Constance that a dark woman's got dark in her.”

”Hm,” Matthew said, for want of any better response. ”Violet, how come you to be in that house?”

She didn't answer. Her father nudged her. ”Go on and tell it, child. It's the right thing to do.”

Violet began in what was almost an inaudible voice, her face angled toward the floor. ”I... was walkin' home. From the schoolhouse. I was goin' by where the Hamiltons used to live... and... I heared somebody.” She paused once more and Matthew thought he would have to urge her on, but then she said, ”Somebody was callin' me. Said... 'Violet, come here.' Low and quiet, it was. 'Violet, come here.' I looked... and the door was open.”

”The door to the Hamilton house,” Matthew said.

”Yes sir. I knowed it was empty. But I heared it again. 'Violet, come here.' It sounded like... my papa was callin' me. That's why I went in.”

”Had you ever been inside that house before?”

”No sir.”

Matthew redipped his quill. ”Please go on.”

”I went in,” Violet said. ”There wasn't nary a noise. It was silent, like... it was just me breathin', and that was the only sound. I near turned to run out... and then... I heared 'Violet, look at me.' At first... 'cause it was so dark, I couldn't see nothin*. Then a candle was lit, and I seen 'em sittin' there in that room.” Both Matthew and Woodward could see that her face, though turned downward, was agonized with the recollection. She trembled, and her father patted her shoulder for comfort. ”I seen 'em,” she repeated. ”The Devil was sittin' in a chair... and the imp was on his knee. The imp... was holdin' the candle... and he was grinnin' at me.” She made a soft, wounded gasp down in her throat and then was quiet.

”I know this is difficult,” Matthew told her, as gently as he could, ”but it has to be spoken. Please continue.”

She said, ”Yes sir,” but offered nothing more for a s.p.a.ce of time. Obviously the recounting of this incident was a terrible ordeal. Finally she took a long breath and let it go. ”The Devil said, 'Tell them to free my Rachel.' He said, 'Let her out of the gaol, or Fount Royal is cursed.' After that... he asked me if I could remember what he'd said. I nodded. Then the imp blowed out the candle, and it come dark again. I run home.” She looked up at Matthew, her eyes shocked and wet. ”Can I go now?”

”Soon,” he said. His heart had begun beating harder. ”I'm going to have to ask you some questions, and I want you to think carefully before you answer to make sure that-”

”She'll answer 'em,” Adams interrupted. ”She's a truthful child.”

”Thank you, sir,” Matthew said. ”Violet? Can you tell me what the Devil looked like?”

”Yes sir. He... had on a black cloak... and a hood over his head, so I couldn't see no face. I remember... on his cloak... was gold b.u.t.tons. They was s.h.i.+nin' in the candlelight.”

”Gold b.u.t.tons.” Matthew's mouth had gone dry; his tongue felt like a piece of iron. ”May I ask... if you know how many there were?”

”Yes sir,” she said. ”Six.”

”What's this fool question for?” Adams demanded. ”Six b.u.t.tons or sixty, what does it matter?”

Matthew ignored him. He stared intently into the child's eyes. ”Violet, please think about this: can you tell me how the b.u.t.tons were arranged on the cloak? Were they six straight up and down, or were they three side by side?”

”Pah!” The man made a disgusted face. ”She seen the Devil, and you're askin' 'bout his b.u.t.tons?” b.u.t.tons?”

”I can answer, Papa,” Violet said. ”They was six straight up and down. I seen 'em s.h.i.+nin'.”

”Straight up and down?” Matthew pressed. ”You're absolutely certain of it?”

”Yes sir, I am.”

Matthew had been leaning forward over his paper; now he sat back in his chair, and ink dripped upon the previous lines he'd quilled.

”Child?” Woodward whispered. He managed a frail smile. ”You're doing very well. Might I ask you to describe the imp?”

Again Violet looked to her father, and he said, ”Go on, tell the magistrate.”

”The imp... was sittin' on the Devil's knee. It had white hair, looked like spider webs. It wasn't wearing no clothes, and... its skin was all gray and wrinkled up, like a dried apple. 'Cept for its face.” She hesitated, her expression tormented; in that instant Woodward thought she more resembled a life-burned woman than an innocent child. ”Its face... was a little boy,” she went on. ”And... while the Devil was talkin' to me... the imp stuck out its tongue... and made it wiggle 'round and 'round.” She shuddered at the memory of it, and a single tear streaked down her left cheek.

Matthew couldn't speak. He realized that Violet Adams had just described perfectly one of the three grotesques that Jeremiah Buckner claimed he saw in the orchard, having unholy s.e.xual relations with Rachel.

Add to that the child's description of Satan as seen by Elias Garrick, right down to the black cloak and six gold b.u.t.tons, and- Dear G.o.d, Dear G.o.d, Matthew thought. Matthew thought. It couldn't be true! Could it? It couldn't be true! Could it?

”Violet?” He had to strain to keep his voice steady. ”Have you heard anything of the other tales concerning the Devil and this imp that may have been told around town? What I mean to say is-”

”No sir, she ain't makin' up a lie!” Adams clenched his teeth at the very suggestion of it. ”I done told you, she's a truthful child! And yes, them tales are spoken here and yon, and most like Violet's heard 'em from other children, but by G.o.d you didn't see her pale as milk when she come home that day! You didn't hear her sobbin' and wailin', near scairt to death! No sir, it ain't a lie!”

Violet had downcast her face again. When her father had ceased his ranting, she lifted it to look fully at Matthew. ”Sir?” she said timorously. ”It happened as I told it. I heared the voice and went in the house, and I seen the Devil and the imp. The Devil said them things to me, and then I run home quick as I could.”

”You're positive-absolutely positive-that the figure in the black cloak said...” Matthew found the appropriate lines on the paper. '”Tell them to free my Rachel'?”

”Yes sir. I am.”

”The candle. In which hand did the imp hold it?”

She frowned. ”The right.”

”Did the Devil have on shoes or boots?”

”I don't know, sir. I didn't see.”

”Upon which knee did the imp sit? The left or right?”

Again, Violet frowned as she called up the memory. ”The... left, I think. Yes sir. The left knee.”

”Did you see anyone else on the street before you went inside?”

”No sir. I don't recall.”

”And afterward? Was there anyone on the street when you came out?”

She shook her head. ”I don't know, sir. I was cryin'. All I cared to do was get home.”

”How come you to stay late at school?”

”It was 'cause of my readin', sir. I need help at it, and Master Johnstone had me stay late to do some extra work.”

”You were the only student asked to stay late?”

”That day, yes sir. But Master Johnstone has somebody stay late most every day.”