Part 27 (1/2)
”Ah--who?”
”Mistress Dulcibel Burton.”
”What!--not the girl with the snake-mark?”
Raymond bowed his head very low in answer.
Lady Mary laughed. ”She is a witch then, it seems; for she has bewitched you.”
”We were betrothed to each other only a few days before that absurd and lying charge was made against her.”
”And her horse--her black mare--that upset the Reverend Master Parris into the duck pond; and then went up into the clouds; and, as Master Cotton Mather solemnly a.s.sured me, has never been seen or heard of since--what of it--where is it, really?”
”In an out-of-the-way place, up in Master Joseph Putnam's woods,”
replied the young man smiling.
”And you are certain of it?”
”As certain as riding the mare for about ten miles will warrant.”
”Master Mather a.s.sured me that no man--except perhaps Satan or one of his imps--could ride her.”
”Then I must be Satan or one of his imps, I suppose.”
”How did you manage it?”
”I put a side-saddle on the beast; and a woman's skirt on myself.”
The lady laughed outright. ”Oh, that is too good! It reminds me of what Sir William often says, 'Anything can be done, if you know how to do it!' I must tell it to him he will enjoy it so much. And it will be a good thing to plague Master Mather with.”
”Please do not tell anyone just now,” protested the young man earnestly.
”It may bring my good friend, Joseph Putnam, into trouble. And it would only make them all angrier than they are with Dulcibel.”
”Dulcibel--that is a strange name. It is Italian--is it not.”
”I judge so. It is a family name. I suppose there is Italian blood in the family. At least Mistress Dulcibel looks it.”
”She does. She is very beautiful--of a kind of strange, fascinating beauty. I do not wonder she bewitched you. Was that serpent mark too from Italy?”
”I think it very likely.”
”Perhaps she is descended from Cleopatra--and that is the mark left by the serpent on the famous queen's breast.”
”I think it exceedingly probable,” said Master Raymond. My readers will have observed before this, that he was an exceedingly polite and politic young man.
”Well, and so you want me to get Mistress Dulcibel, this witch descendant of that famous old witch, Cleopatra, out of prison?”
”I hoped that, from the well-known kindness of heart of your ladys.h.i.+p, you would be able to do something for us.”