The Lancashire Witches by William Harrison Ainsworth

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"Is it possible you can say this to me, Jennet?" cried Alizon. "What
have I done to incur your hatred? I have ever loved you, and striven to
please and serve you. I have always taken your part against others, even
when you were in the wrong. Oh! Jennet, you cannot hate me."

"Boh ey do," replied the little girl, spitefully. "Ey hate yo now warser
than onny wan else. Ey hate yo because yo are neaw lunger my
sister--becose yo 're a grand ledy's dowter, an a grand ledy yersel. Ey
hate yo becose yung Ruchot Assheton loves yo--an becose yo ha better
luck i' aw things than ey have, or con expect to have. That's why I hate
yo, Alizon. When yo are a witch ey shan love yo, for then we shan be
equals once more."

"That will never be, Jennet," said Alizon, sadly, but firmly. "Your
grandmother may immure me in this dungeon, and scare away my senses; but
she will never rob me of my hopes of salvation."

As the words were uttered, a clang like that produced by a stricken gong
shook the vault; the beasts roared fiercely; the black waters of the
fountain bubbled up, and were lashed into foam by the angry reptiles;
and a larger jet of flame than before burst from the brow of the demon
statue.

"Ey ha' warned ye, Alizon," said Jennet, alarmed by these
demonstrations; "boh since ye pay no heed to owt ey say, ey'st leave yo
to yer fate."

"Oh! stay with me, stay with me, Jennet!" shrieked Alizon, "By our past
sisterly affection I implore you to remain! You are some protection to
me from these dreadful beings."

"Ey dunna want to protect yo onless yo do os yo're bidd'n," replied
Jennet! "Whoy should yo be better than me?"

"Ah! why, indeed?" cried Alizon. "Would I had the power to turn your
heart--to open your eyes to evil--to save you, Jennet."

These words were followed by another clang, louder and more brattling
than the first. The solid walls of the dungeon were shaken, and the
heavy columns rocked; while, to Alizon's affrighted gaze, it seemed as
if the sable statue arose upon its ebon throne, and stretched out its
arm menacingly towards her. The poor girl was saved from further terror
by insensibility.

How long she remained in this condition she could not tell, nor did it
appear that any efforts were made to restore her; but when she
recovered, she found herself stretched upon a rude pallet within an
arched recess, the entrance to which was screened by a piece of
tapestry. On lifting it aside she perceived she was no longer in the
vault, but in an upper chamber, as she judged, and not incorrectly, of
the tower. The room was lofty and circular, and the walls of enormous
thickness, as shown by the deep embrasures of the windows; in one of
which, the outlet having been built up, the pallet was placed. A massive
oak table, two or three chairs of antique shape, and a wooden stool,
constituted the furniture of the room. The stool was set near the
fireplace, and beside it stood a strangely-fashioned spinning-wheel,
which had apparently been recently used; but neither the old hag nor her
grand-daughter were visible. Alizon could not tell whether it was night
or day; but a lamp was burning upon the table, its feeble light only
imperfectly illumining the chamber, and scarcely revealing several
strange objects dangling from the huge beams that supported the roof.
Faded arras were hung against the walls, representing in one compartment
the last banquet of Isole de Heton and her lover, Blackburn; in another,
the Saxon Ughtred hanging from the summit of Malkin Tower; and in a
third, the execution of Abbot Paslew. The subjects were as large as
life, admirably depicted, and evidently worked at wondrous looms. As
they swayed to and fro in the gusts, that found entrance into the
chamber through some unprotected loopholes, the figures had a grim and
ghostly air.

Weak, trembling, bewildered, Alizon stepped forth, and staggering
towards the table sank upon a chair beside it. A fearful storm was
raging without--thunder, lightning, deluging rain. Stunned and blinded,
she covered her eyes, and remained thus till the fury of the tempest had
in some degree abated. She was roused at length by a creaking sound not
far from her, and found it proceeded from a trapdoor rising slowly on
its hinges.

A thrum cap first appeared above the level of the floor; then a broad,
bloated face, the mouth and chin fringed with a white beard like the
whiskers of a cat; then a thick, bull throat; then a pair of brawny
shoulders; then a square, thick-set frame; and Mother Demdike stood
before her. A malignant smile played upon her hideous countenance, and
gleamed from her eyes--those eyes so strangely placed by nature, as if
to intimate her doom, and that of her fated race, to whom the horrible
blemish was transmitted. As the old witch leaped heavily upon the
ground, the trapdoor closed behind her.

"Soh, you are better, Alizon, and have quitted your couch, I find," she
cried, striking her staff upon the floor. "But you look faint and feeble
still. I will give you something to revive you. I have a wondrous
cordial in yon closet--a rare restorative--ha! ha! It will make you well
the moment it has passed your lips. I will fetch it at once."

"I will have none of it," replied Alizon; "I would rather die."

"Rather die!" echoed Mother Demdike, sarcastically, "because, forsooth,
you are crossed in love. But you shall have the man of your heart yet,
if you will only follow my counsel, and do as I bid you. Richard
Assheton shall be yours, and with your mother's consent, provided--"

"I understand the condition you annex to the promise," interrupted
Alizon, "and the terms upon which you would fulfil it: but you seek in
vain to tempt me, old woman. I now comprehend why I am brought hither."

"Ay, indeed!" exclaimed the old witch. "And why is it, then, since you
are so quick-witted?"

"You desire to make an offering to the evil being you serve," cried
Alizon, with sudden energy. "You have entered into some dark compact,
which compels you to deliver up a victim in each year to the Fiend, or
your own soul becomes forfeit. Thus you have hitherto lengthened out
your wretched life, and you hope to extend the term yet farther through
me. I have heard this tale before, but I would not believe it. Now I
do. This is why you have stolen me from my mother--have braved her
anger--and brought me to this impious tower."

The old hag laughed hoarsely.

"The tale thou hast heard respecting me is true," she said. "I _have_ a
compact which requires me to make a proselyte to the power I serve
within each year, and if I fail in doing so, I must pay the penalty thou
hast mentioned. A like compact exists between Mistress Nutter and the
Fiend."

She paused for a moment, to watch the effect of her words on Alizon, and
then resumed.

"Thy mother would have sacrificed thee if thou hadst been left with her;
but I have carried thee off, because I conceive I am best entitled to
thee. Thou wert brought up as my grand-daughter, and therefore I claim
thee as my own."

"And you think to deal with me as if I were a puppet in your hands?"
cried Alizon.

"Ay, marry, do I," rejoined Mother Demdike, with a scream of laughter,
"Thou art nothing more than a puppet--a puppet--ho! ho."

"And you deem you can dispose of my soul without my consent?" said
Alizon.

"Thy full consent will be obtained," rejoined the old hag.

"Think it not! think it not!" exclaimed Alizon. "Oh! I shall yet be
delivered from this infernal bondage."

At this moment the notes of a bugle were heard.

"Saved! saved!" cried the poor girl, starting. "It is Richard come to my
rescue!"

"How know'st thou that?" cried Mother Demdike, with a spiteful look.

"By an instinct that never deceives," replied Alizon, as the blast was
again heard.

"This must be stopped," said the hag, waving her staff over the maiden,
and transfixing her where she sat; after which she took up the lamp, and
strode towards the window.

The few words that passed between her and Richard have been already
recounted. Having closed the casement and drawn the curtain before it,
Mother Demdike traced a circle on the floor, muttered a spell, and then,
waving her staff over Alizon, restored her power of speech and motion.

"'Twas he!" exclaimed the young girl, as soon as she could find
utterance. "I heard his voice."

"Why, ay, 'twas he, sure enough," rejoined the beldame. "He has come on
a fool's errand, but he shall never return from it. Does Mistress Nutter
think I will give up my prize the moment I have obtained it, for the
mere asking? Does she imagine she can frighten me as she frightens
others? Does she know whom she has to deal with? If not, I will tell
her. I am the oldest, the boldest, and the strongest of the witches. No
mystery of the black art but is known to me. I can do what mischief I
will, and my desolating hand has been felt throughout this district. You
may trace it like a pestilence. No one has offended me but I have
terribly repaid him. I rule over the land like a queen. I exact
tributes, and, if they are not rendered, I smite with a sharper edge
than the sword. My worship is paid to the Prince of Darkness. This tower
is his temple, and yon subterranean chamber the place where the mystical
rites, which thou wouldst call impious and damnable, are performed.
Countless sabbaths have I attended within it; or upon Rumbles Moor, or
on the summit of Pendle Hill, or within the ruins of Whalley Abbey. Many
proselytes have I made; many unbaptised babes offered up in sacrifice. I
am high-priestess to the Demon, and thy mother would usurp mine office."

"Oh! spare me this horrible recital!" exclaimed Alizon, vainly trying to
shut out the hag's piercing voice.

"I will spare thee nothing," pursued Mother Demdike. "Thy mother, I say,
would be high-priestess in my stead. There are degrees among witches, as
among other sects, and mine is the first. Mistress Nutter would deprive
me of mine office; but not till her hair is as white as mine, her
knowledge equal to mine, and her hatred of mankind as intense as
mine--not till then shall she have it."

"No more of this, in pity!" cried Alizon.

"Often have I aided thy mother in her dark schemes," pursued the
implacable hag; "nay, no later than last night I obliterated the old
boundaries of her land, and erected new marks to serve her. It was a
strong exercise of power; but the command came to me, and I obeyed it.
No other witch could have achieved so much, not even the accursed
Chattox, and she is next to myself. And how does thy mother purpose to
requite me? By thrusting me aside, and stepping into my throne."

"You must be in error," cried Alizon, scarcely knowing what to say.

"My information never fails me," replied the hag, with a disdainful
laugh. "Her plans are made known to me as soon as formed. I have those
about her who keep strict watch upon her actions, and report them
faithfully. I know why she brought thee so suddenly to Rough Lee, though
thou know'st it not."

"She brought me there for safety," remarked the young girl, hoping to
allay the beldame's fury, "and because she herself desired to know how
the survey of the boundaries would end."

"She brought thee there to sacrifice thee to the Fiend!" cried the hag,
infernal rage and malice blazing in her eyes. "She failed in
propitiating him at the meeting in the ruined church of Whalley last
night, when thou thyself wert present, and deliveredst Dorothy Assheton
from the snare in which she was taken. And since then all has gone wrong
with her. Having demanded from her familiar the cause why all things ran
counter, she was told she had failed in the fulfilment of her
promise--that a proselyte was required--and that thou alone wouldst be
accepted."

"I!" exclaimed Alizon, horror-stricken.

"Ay, thou!" cried the hag. "No choice was allowed her, and the offering
must be made to-night. After a long and painful struggle, thy mother
consented."

"Oh! no--impossible! you deceive me," cried the wretched girl.

"I tell thee she consented," rejoined Mother Demdike, coldly; "and on
this she made instant arrangements to return home, and in spite--as thou
know'st--of Sir Ralph and Lady Assheton's efforts to detain her, set
forth with thee."

"All this I know," observed Alizon, sadly--"and intelligence of our
departure from the Abbey was conveyed to you, I conclude, by Jennet, to
whom I bade adieu."

"Thou art right--it was," returned the hag; "but I have yet more to tell
thee, for I will lay the secrets of thy mother's dark breast fully
before thee. Her time is wellnigh run. Thou wert made the price of its
extension. If she fails in offering thee up to-night, and thou art here
in my keeping, the Fiend, her master, will abandon her, and she will be
delivered up to the justice of man."

Alizon covered her face with horror.

After awhile she looked up, and exclaimed, with unutterable anguish--

"And I cannot help her!"

The unpitying hag laughed derisively.

"She cannot be utterly lost," continued the young girl. "Were I near
her, I would show her that heaven is merciful to the greatest sinner who
repents; and teach her how to regain the lost path to salvation."

"Peace!" thundered the witch, shaking her huge hand at her, and stamping
her heavy foot upon the ground. "Such words must not be uttered here.
They are an offence to me. Thy mother has renounced all hopes of heaven.
She has been baptised in the baptism of hell, and branded on the brow by
the red finger of its ruler, and cannot be wrested from him. It is too
late."

"No, no--it never can be too late!" cried Alizon. "It is not even too
late for you."

"Thou know'st not what thou talk'st about, foolish wench," rejoined the
hag. "Our master would tear us instantly in pieces if but a thought of
penitence, as thou callest it, crossed our minds. We are both doomed to
an eternity of torture. But thy mother will go first--ay, first. If she
had yielded thee up to-night, another term would have been allowed her;
but as I hold thee instead, the benefit of the sacrifice will be mine.
But, hist! what was that? The youth again! Alice Nutter must have given
him some potent counter-charm."

"He comes to deliver me," cried Alizon. "Richard!"

And she arose, and would have flown to the window, but Mother Demdike
waved her staff over her, and rooted her to the ground.

"Stay there till I require thee," chuckled the hag, moving, with
ponderous footsteps, to the door.

After parleying with Richard, as already related, Mother Demdike
suddenly returned to Alizon, and, restoring her to sensibility, placed
her hideous face close to her, breathing upon her, and uttering these
words, "Be thine eyes blinded and thy brain confused, so that thou mayst
not know him when thou seest him, but think him another."

The spell took instant effect. Alizon staggered towards the table,
Richard was summoned, and on his appearance the scene took place which
has already been detailed, and which ended in his losing the talisman,
and being ejected from the tower.

Alizon had been rendered invisible by the old witch, and was afterwards
dragged into the arched recess by her, where, snatching the piece of
gold from the young girl's neck, she exclaimed triumphantly--

"Now I defy thee, Alice Nutter. Thou canst never recover thy child. The
offering shall be made to-night, and another year be added to my long
term."

Alizon groaned deeply, but, at a gesture from the hag, she became
motionless and speechless.

A dusky indistinctly-seen figure hovered near the entrance of the
embrasure. Mother Demdike beckoned it to her.

"Convey this girl to the vault, and watch over her," she said. "I will
descend anon."

Upon this the shadowy arms enveloped Alizon, the trapdoor flew open, and
the figure disappeared with its inanimate burthen.

CHAPTER XIII.--THE TWO FAMILIARS.

After seeing Richard depart on his perilous mission to Malkin Tower,
Mistress Nutter retired to her own chamber, and held long and anxious
self-communion. The course of her thoughts may be gathered from the
terrible revelations made by Mother Demdike to Alizon. A prey to the
most agonising emotions, it may be questioned if she could have endured
greater torment if her heart had been consumed by living fire, as in the
punishment assigned to the damned in the fabled halls of Eblis. For the
first time remorse assailed her, and she felt compunction for the evil
she had committed. The whole of her dark career passed in review before
her. The long catalogue of her crimes unfolded itself like a scroll of
flame, and at its foot were written in blazing characters the awful
words, JUDGMENT AND CONDEMNATION! There was no escape--none! Hell, with
its unquenchable fires and unimaginable horrors, yawned to receive her;
and she felt, with anguish and self-reproach not to be described, how
wretched a bargain she had made, and how dearly the brief gratification
of her evil passions had been purchased at the cost of an eternity of
woe and torture.

This change of feeling had been produced by her newly-awakened affection
for her daughter, long supposed dead, and now restored to her, only to
be snatched away again in a manner which added to the sharpness of the
loss. She saw herself the sport of a juggling fiend, whose aim was to
win over her daughter's soul through her instrumentality, and she
resolved, if possible, to defeat his purposes. This, she was aware,
could only be accomplished by her own destruction, but even this dread
alternative she was prepared to embrace. Alizon's sinless nature and
devotion to herself had so wrought upon her, that, though she had at
first resisted the better impulses kindled within her bosom, in the end
they completely overmastered her.

Was it, she asked herself, too late to repent? Was there no way of
breaking her compact? She remembered to have read of a young man who had
signed away his own soul, being restored to heaven by the intercession
of the great reformer of the church, Martin Luther. But, on the other
hand, she had heard of many others, who, on the slightest manifestation
of penitence, had been rent in pieces by the Fiend. Still the idea
recurred to her. Might not her daughter, armed with perfect purity and
holiness, with a soul free from stain as an unspotted mirror; might not
she, who had avouched herself ready to risk all for her--for she had
overheard her declaration to Richard;--might not she be able to work out
her salvation? Would confession of her sins and voluntary submission to
earthly justice save her? Alas!--no. She was without hope. She had an
inexorable master to deal with, who would grant her no grace, except
upon conditions she would not assent to.

She would have thrown herself on her knees, but they refused to bend.
She would have prayed, but the words turned to blasphemies. She would
have wept, but the fountains of tears were dry. The witch could never
weep.

Then came despair and frenzy, and, like furies, lashed her with whips of
scorpions, goading her with the memory of her abominations and
idolatries, and her infinite and varied iniquities. They showed her, as
in a swiftly-fleeting vision, all who had suffered wrong by her, or whom
her malice had afflicted in body or estate. They mocked her with a
glimpse of the paradise she had forfeited. She saw her daughter in a
beatified state about to enter its golden portals, and would have clung
to her robes in the hope of being carried in with her, but she was
driven away by an angel with a flaming sword, who cried out, "Thou hast
abjured heaven, and heaven rejects thee. Satan's brand is upon thy brow
and, unless it be effaced, thou canst never enter here. Down to Tophet,
thou witch!" Then she implored her daughter to touch her brow with the
tip of her finger; and, as the latter was about to comply, a dark
demoniacal shape suddenly rose, and, seizing her by the hair, plunged
with her down--down--millions of miles--till she beheld a world of fire
appear beneath her, consisting of a multitude of volcanoes, roaring and
raging like furnaces, boiling over with redhot lava, and casting forth
huge burning stones. In each of these beds of fire thousands upon
thousands of sufferers were writhing, and their groans and lamentations
arose in one frightful, incessant wail, too terrible for human hearing.

Over this place of torment the demon held her suspended. She shrieked
aloud in her agony, and, shaking off the oppression, rejoiced to find
the vision had been caused by her own distempered imagination.

Meanwhile, the storm, which had obstructed Richard as he climbed the
hill, had come on, though Mistress Nutter had not noticed it; but now a
loud peal of thunder shook the room, and rousing herself she walked to
the window. The sight she beheld increased her alarm. Heavy
thunder-clouds rested upon the hill-side, and seemed ready to discharge
their artillery upon the course which she knew must be taken by the
young man.

The chamber in which she stood, it has been said, was large and gloomy,
with a wainscoting of dark oak. On one of the panels was painted a
picture of herself in her days of youth, innocence, and beauty; and on
another, a portrait of her unfortunate husband, who appeared a handsome
young man, with a stern countenance, attired in a black velvet doublet
and cloak, of the fashion of Elizabeth's day. Between these paintings
stood a carved oak bedstead, with a high tester and dark heavy drapery,
opposite which was a wide window, occupying almost the whole length of
the room, but darkened by thick bars and glass, crowded with armorial
bearings, or otherwise deeply dyed. The high mantelpiece and its
carvings have been previously described, as well as the bloody
hearthstone, where the tragical incident occurred connected with
Alizon's early history.

As Mistress Nutter returned to the fireplace, a plaintive cry arose from
it, and starting--for the sound revived terrible memories within her
breast--she beheld the ineffaceable stains upon the flag traced out by
blue phosphoric fire, while above them hovered the shape of a bleeding
infant. Horror-stricken, she averted her gaze, but it encountered
another object, equally appalling--her husband's portrait; or rather,
it would seem, a phantom in its place; for the eyes, lighted up by
infernal fire, glared at her from beneath the frowning and contracted
brows, while the hand significantly pointed to the hearthstone, on which
the sanguinary stains had now formed themselves into the fatal word
"VENGEANCE!"

In a few minutes the fiery characters died away, and the portrait
resumed its wonted expression; but ere Mistress Nutter had recovered
from her terror the back of the fireplace opened, and a tall swarthy man
stepped out from it. As he appeared, a flash of lightning illumined the
chamber, and revealed his fiendish countenance. On seeing him, the lady
immediately regained her courage, and addressed him in a haughty and
commanding tone--

"Why this intrusion? I did not summon thee, and do not require thee."

"You are mistaken, madam," he replied; "you had never more occasion for
me than at this moment; and, so far from intruding upon you, I have
avoided coming near you, even though enjoined to do so by my lord. He is
perfectly aware of the change which has just taken place in your
opinions, and the anxiety you now feel to break the contract you have
entered into with him, and which he has scrupulously fulfilled on his
part; but he wishes you distinctly to understand, that he has no
intention of abandoning his claims upon you, but will most assuredly
enforce them at the proper time. I need not remind you that your term
draws to a close, and ere many months must expire; but means of
extending it have been offered you, if you choose to avail yourself of
them."

"I have no such intention," replied Mistress Nutter, in a decided tone.

"So be it, madam," replied the other; "but you will not preserve your
daughter, who is in the hands of a tried and faithful servant of my
lord, and what you hesitate to do that servant will perform, and so reap
the benefit of the sacrifice."

"Not so," rejoined Mistress Nutter.

"I say yea," retorted the familiar.

"Thou art my slave, I command thee to bring Alizon hither at once."

The familiar shook his head.

"Thou refusest!" cried Mistress Nutter, menacingly.

"Knows't thou not I have the means of chastising thee?"

"You had, madam," replied the other; "but the moment a thought of
penitence crossed your breast, the power you were invested with
departed. My lord, however, is willing to give you an hour of grace,
when, if you voluntarily renew your oaths to him, he will accept them,
and place me at your disposal once more; but if you still continue
obstinate--"

"He will abandon me," interrupted Mistress Nutter; "I knew it. Fool
that I was to trust one who, from the beginning, has been a deceiver."

"You have a short memory, and but little gratitude, madam and seem
entirely to forget the important favour conferred upon you last night.
At your solicitation, the boundaries of your property were changed, and
large slips of land filched from another, to be given to you. But if you
fail in your duty, you cannot expect this to continue. The boundary
marks will be set up in their old places, and the land restored to its
rightful owner."