The Lancashire Witches by William Harrison Ainsworth

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A steep ladder-like flight of steps led to the upper chamber, and down
these, at the very moment of Mistress Nutter's entrance, descended a
stalwart personage, who eyed her fiercely as he leapt upon the floor.
There was something in the man's truculent physiognomy, and strange and
oblique vision, that reminded her of Mother Demdike.

"Welcome to Malkin Tower, madam," said the robber with a grin, and
doffing his cap with affected courtesy. "We have met before, but it is
many years ago, and I dare say you have forgotten me. You will guess who
I am when I tell you my mother occupied this tower before me."

Finding Mistress Nutter made no remark, he went on.

"I am Christopher Demdike, madam--Captain Demdike, I should say. The
brave fellows who have brought you hither are part of my band, and till
lately Northumberland and the borders of Scotland used to be our scene
of action; but chancing to hear of my worthy old mother's death, I
thought we could not do better than take possession of her stronghold,
which devolved upon me by right of inheritance. Since our arrival here
we have kept ourselves very quiet, and the country folk, taking us for
spirits or demons, never approach our hiding-place; while, as all our
depredations are confined to distant parts, our retreat has never been
suspected."

"This concerns me little," observed Mistress Nutter, coldly.

"Pardon me, madam, it concerns you much, as you will learn anon. But be
seated, I pray you," he said, with mock civility. "I am keeping you
standing all this while."

But as the lady declined the attention, he went on.

"I was fortunate enough, on first coming back to this part of the
country, to pick up an acquaintance with your relative, Nicholas
Assheton, who invited me to stay with him at Downham, and was so well
pleased with my society that he could not endure to part with me."

"Indeed!" exclaimed Mistress Nutter, "are you the person he called
Lawrence Fogg?"

"The same," replied Demdike; "and no doubt you would hear a good report
of me, madam. Well, it suited my purpose to stay; for I was very
hospitably entertained by the squire, who, except being rather too much
addicted to lectures and psalm-singing, is as pleasant a host as one
could desire; besides which, he was obliging enough to employ me to
borrow money for him, and what I got, I kept, you may be sure."

"I would willingly be spared the details of your knavery," said Mistress
Nutter, somewhat impatiently.

"I am coming to an end," rejoined Demdike, "and then, perhaps, you may
wish I had prolonged them. All the squire's secrets were committed to
me, and I was fully aware of your concealment in the hall, but I could
never ascertain precisely where you were lodged. I meant to carry you
off, and only awaited the opportunity which has presented itself
to-night."

"If you think to obtain money from me, you will find yourself mistaken,"
said Mistress Nutter. "I have parted with all my possessions."

"But to whom, madam?" cried Demdike, with a sinister smile--"to your
daughter. And I am sure she is too gentle, too tender-hearted, to allow
you to suffer when she can relieve you. You must get us a good round sum
from her or you will be detained here long. The dungeons are dark and
unwholesome, and my band are apt to be harsh in their treatment of
captives. They have found in the vaults some instruments of torture
belonging to old Blackburn, the freebooter, the efficacy of which in an
obstinate case I fear they might be inclined to try. You now begin to
see the drift of my discourse, madam, and understand the sort of men
you have to deal with--barbarous fellows, madam--inhuman dogs!"

And he laughed coarsely at his own jocularity.

"It may put an end to this discussion," said Mistress Nutter firmly, "if
I declare that no torture shall induce me to make any such demand from
my daughter."

"You think, perhaps, I am jesting with you, madam," rejoined Demdike.

"Oh! no, I believe you capable of any atrocity," replied the lady. "You
do not, either in feature or deeds, belie your parentage."

"Ah! say you so, madam?" cried Demdike. "You have a sharp tongue, I
find. Courtesy is thrown away upon you. What, ho! lads--Kenyon and
Lowton, take the lady down to the vaults, and there let her have an hour
for solitary reflection. She may change her mind in that time."

"Do not think it," cried Mistress Nutter, resolutely.

"If you continue obstinate, we will find means to move you," rejoined
Demdike, in a taunting tone. "But what has she got beneath her arm? Give
me the book. What's this?--a Bible! A witch with a Bible! It should be a
grimoire. Ha! ha!"

"Give it me back, I implore of you," shrieked the lady. "I shall be
destroyed, soul and body, if I have it not with me."

"What! you are afraid the devil may carry you off without it--ho! ho!"
roared Demdike. "Well, that would not suit my purpose at present. Here,
take it--and now off with her, lads, without more ado!"

And as he spoke, a trapdoor was opened by one of the robbers, disclosing
a flight of steps leading to the subterranean chambers, down which the
miserable lady was dragged.

Presently the two men re-appeared with a grim smile on their ruffianly
countenances, and, as they closed the trapdoor, one of them observed to
the captain that they had chained her to a pillar, by removing the band
from the great skeleton, and passing it round her body.

"You have done well, lads," replied Demdike, approvingly; "and now go
all of you and scour the hill-top, and return in an hour, and we will
decide upon what is to be done with this woman."

The two men then joined the rest of their comrades outside, and the
whole troop descended the steps, which were afterwards drawn up by
Demdike. This done, the robber captain returned to the circular chamber,
and for some time paced to and fro, revolving his dark schemes. He then
paused, and placing his ear near the trapdoor, listened, but as no sound
reached him, he sat down at the table, and soon grew so much absorbed as
to be unconscious that a dark figure was creeping stealthily down the
narrow staircase behind him.

"I cannot get rid of Nicholas Assheton," he exclaimed at length. "I
somehow fancy we shall meet again; and yet all should be over with him
by this time."

"Look round!" thundered a voice behind him. "Nicholas Assheton is not to
be got rid of so easily."

At this unexpected summons, Demdike started to his feet, and recoiled
aghast, as he saw what he took to be the ghost of the murdered squire
standing before him. A second look, however, convinced him that it was
no phantom he beheld, but a living man, armed for vengeance, and
determined upon it.

"Get a weapon, villain," cried Nicholas, in tones of concentrated fury.
"I do not wish to take unfair advantage, even of thee."

Without a word of reply, Demdike snatched a sword from the wall, and the
next moment was engaged in deadly strife with the squire. They were well
matched, for both were powerful men, both expert in the use of their
weapons, and the combat might have been protracted and of doubtful issue
but for the irresistible fury of Nicholas, who assaulted his adversary
with such vigour and determination that he speedily drove him against
the wall, where the latter made an attempt to seize a petronel hanging
beside him, but his purpose being divined, he received a thrust through
the arm, and, dropping his blade, lay at the squire's mercy.

Nicholas shortened his sword, but forbore to strike. Seizing his enemy
by the throat, he hurled him to the ground, and, planting his knee on
his chest, called out, "What, ho, Nance!"

"Nance!" exclaimed Demdike,--"then it was that mischievous jade who
brought you here."

"Ay," replied the squire, as the young woman came quickly down the
steps,--"and I refused her aid in the conflict because I felt certain of
mastering thee, and because I would not take odds even against such a
treacherous villain as thou art."

"Better dispatch him, squire," said Nance; "he may do yo a mischief
yet."

"No--no," replied Nicholas, "he is unworthy of a gentleman's sword.
Besides, I have sworn to hang him, and I will keep my word. Go down into
the vaults and liberate Mistress Nutter, while I bind him, for we must
take him with us. To-morrow, he shall lie in Lancaster Castle with his
kinsfolk."

"That remains to be seen," muttered Demdike.

"Be on your guard, squire," cried Nance, as she lifted a small lamp, and
raised the trapdoor.

With this caution, she descended to the vaults, while Nicholas looked
about for a thong, and perceiving a rope dangling down the wall near
him, he seized it, drawing it with some force towards him.

A sudden sound reached his ears--clang! clang! He had rung the
alarm-bell violently.

Clang! clang! clang! Would it never stop?

Taking advantage of his surprise and consternation, Demdike got from
under him, sprang to his feet, and rushing to the doorway, instantly let
fall the steps, roaring out,--

"Treason! to the rescue, my men! to the rescue!"

His cries were immediately answered from without, and it was evident
from the tumult that the whole of the band were hurrying to his
assistance.

Not a moment was to be lost by the squire. Plunging through the
trapdoor, he closed it after him, and bolted it underneath at the very
moment the robbers entered the chamber. Demdike's rage at finding him
gone was increased, when all the combined efforts of his men failed in
forcing open the trapdoor.

"Take hatchets and hew it open!" he cried; "we must have them. I have
heard there is a secret outlet below, and though I have never been able
to discover it, it may be known to Nance. I will go outside, and watch.
If you hear me whistle, come forth instantly."

And, rushing forth, he was making the circuit, of the tower, and
examining some bushes at its base, when his throat was suddenly seized
by a dog, and before he could even utter an exclamation, much less sound
his whistle, or use his arms, he was grappled by the old huntsman, and
dragged off to a considerable distance, the dog still clinging to his
throat.

Meanwhile, Nicholas had hurried down into the vaults, where he found
Nance sustaining Mistress Nutter, who was half fainting, and hastily
explaining what had occurred, she consigned the lady to him, and then
led the way through the central range of pillars, and past the ebon
image, until she approached the wall, when, holding up the lamp, she
revealed a black marble slab between the statues of Blackburn and Isole.
Pressing against it, the slab moved on one side, and disclosed a flight
of steps.

"Go up there," cried Nance to the squire, "and when ye get to th' top,
yo'n find another stoan, wi' a nob in it. Yo canna miss it. Go on."

"But you!" cried the squire. "Will you not come with us?"

"Ey'n come presently," replied Nance, with a strange smile. "Ey ha
summat to do first. That cunning fox Demdike has set a trap fo' himsel
an aw his followers,--and it's fo' me to ketch 'em. Wait fo' me about a
hundert yorts fro' th' tower. Nah nearer--yo onderstand?"

Nicholas did not very clearly understand, but concluding Nance had some
hidden meaning in what she said, he resolved unhesitatingly to obey her.
Having got clear of the tower, as directed, with Mistress Nutter, he ran
on with her to some distance, when what was his surprise to find Crouch
and Grip keeping watch over the prostrate robber chief. A few words from
the huntsman sufficed to explain how this had come about, but they were
scarcely uttered when Nance rushed up in breathless haste, crying
out--"Off! further off! as yo value your lives!"

Seeing from her manner that delay would be dangerous, Nicholas and
Crouch laid hold of the prisoner and bore him away between them, while
Nance assisted Mistress Nutter along.

They had not gone far when a rumbling sound like that preceding an
earthquake was heard.

All looked back towards Malkin Tower. The structure was seen to
rock--flames burst from the earth--and with a tremendous explosion heard
for miles ground, and which shook the ground even where Nicholas and the
others stood, the whole of the unhallowed fabric, from base to summit,
was blown into the air, some of the stones being projected to an
extraordinary distance.

A mine charged with gunpowder, it appeared, had been laid beneath its
vaults by Demdike, with a view to its destruction at some future period,
and this circumstance being known to Nance, she had fired the train.

Not one of the robbers within the tower escaped. The bodies of all were
found next day, crushed, burned, or frightfully mutilated.

CHAPTER VI.--HOGHTON TOWER.

About a month after the occurrence last described, and early on a fine
morning in August, Nicholas Assheton and Richard Sherborne rode forth
together from the proud town of Preston. Both were gaily attired in
doublets and hose of yellow velvet, slashed with white silk, with
mantles to match, the latter being somewhat conspicuously embroidered on
the shoulder with a wild bull worked in gold, and underneath it the
motto, "_Malgre le Tort_." Followed at a respectful distance by four
mounted attendants, the two gentlemen had crossed the bridge over the
Ribble, and were wending their way along the banks of a tributary
stream, the Darwen, within a short distance of the charming village of
Walton-le-Dale, when they perceived a horseman advancing slowly towards
them, whom they instantly hailed as Richard Assheton, and pushing
forward, were soon beside him. Both were much shocked by the young man's
haggard looks, and inquired anxiously as to his health, but Richard bade
them, with a melancholy smile, not be uneasy, for all would be well with
him erelong.

"All will be over with you, lad, if you don't mind; and that's, perhaps,
what you mean," replied Nicholas; "but as soon as the royal festivities
at Hoghton are over, I'll set about your cure; and, what's more, I'll
accomplish it--for I know where the seat of the disease lies better than
Dr. Morphew, your family physician at Middleton. 'Tis near the heart,
Dick--near the heart. Ha! I see I have touched you, lad. But, beshrew
me, you are very strangely attired--in a suit of sable velvet, with a
black Spanish hat and feather, for a festival! You look as if going to a
funeral I am fearful his Majesty may take it amiss. Why not wear the
livery of our house?"

"Nay, if it comes to that," rejoined Richard, "why do not you and
Sherborne wear it, instead of flaunting like daws in borrowed plumage? I
scarce know you in your strange garb, and certainly should not take you
for an Assheton, or aught pertaining to our family, from your gaudy
colours and the strange badge on your shoulder."

"I don't wonder at it, Dick," said Nicholas; "I scarce know myself; and
though the clothes I wear are well made enough, they seem to sit
awkwardly on me, and trouble me as much as the shirt of Nessus did
Hercules of old. For the nonce I am Sir Richard Hoghton's retainer. I
must own I was angry with myself when I saw Sir Ralph Assheton with his
long train of gentlemen, all in murrey-coloured cloaks and doublets, at
Myerscough Lodge, while I, his cousin, was habited like one of another
house. And when I would have excused my apparent defection to Sir Ralph,
he answered coldly, 'It was better as it was, for he could scarcely have
found room for me among his friends.'"

"Do not fret yourself, Nicholas," rejoined Sherborne; "Sir Ralph cannot
reasonably take offence at a mere piece of good-nature on your part. But
this does not explain why Richard affects a colour so sombre."

"I am the retainer of one whose livery is sombre," replied the young
man, with a ghastly smile. "But enough of this," he added, endeavouring
to assume a livelier air; "I suppose you are on the way to Hoghton
Tower. I thought to reach Preston before you were up, but I might have
recollected you are no lag-a-bed, Nicholas, not even after hard drinking
overnight, as witness your feats at Whalley. To be frank with you, I
feared being led into like excesses, and so preferred passing the night
at the quiet little inn at Walton-le-Dale, to coming on to you at the
Castle at Preston, which I knew would be full of noisy roysterers."

"Full it was, even to overflowing," replied the squire; "but you should
have come, Dick, for, by my troth! we had a right merry night of it.
Stephen Hamerton, of Hellyfield Peel, with his wife, and her sister,
sweet Mistress Doll Lister, supped with us; and we had music, dancing,
and singing, and abundance of good cheer. Nouns! Dick, Doll Lister is a
delightful lass, and if you can only get Alizon out of your head, would
be just the wife for you. She sings like an angel, has the most
captivating sigh-and-die-away manner, and the prettiest rounded figure
ever bodice kept in. Were I in your place I should know where to
choose. But you will see her at Hoghton to-day, for she is to be at the
banquet and masque."

"Your description does not tempt me," said Richard; "I have no taste for
sigh-and-die-away damsels. Dorothy Lister, however, is accounted fair
enough; but, were she fascinating as Venus herself, in my present mood I
should not regard her."

"I' faith, lad, I pity you, if such be the case," shrugging his
shoulders, more in contempt than compassion.

"Waste not your sympathy upon me," replied Richard; "but, tell me, how
went the show at Preston yesterday?"

"Excellently well, and much to his Majesty's satisfaction," answered the
squire. "Proud Preston never was so proud before, and never with such
good reason; for if the people be poor, according to the proverb, they
take good care to hide their poverty. Bombards were fired from the
bridge, and the church bells rang loud enough to crack the steeple, and
bring it down about the ears of the deafened lieges. The houses were
hung with carpets and arras; the streets strewn ankle deep with sand and
sawdust; the cross in the market-place was bedecked with garlands of
flowers like a May-pole; and the conduit near it ran wine. At noon there
was more firing; and, amidst flourishes of trumpets, rolling of drums,
squeaking of fifes, and prodigious shouting, bonnie King Jamie came to
the cross, where a speech was made him by Master Breares, the Recorder;
after which the corporation presented his Majesty with a huge silver
bowl, in token of their love and loyalty. The King seemed highly pleased
with the gift, and observed to the Duke of Buckingham, loud enough to be
heard by the bystanders, who reported his speech to me, 'God's santie!
it's a braw bicker, Steenie, and might serve for a christening-cup, if
we had need of siccan a vessel, which, Heaven be praised, we ha'e na!'
After this there was a grand banquet in the town-hall; and when the heat
of the day was over the King left with his train for Hoghton Tower,
visiting the alum mines on the way thither. We are bidden to breakfast
by Sir Richard, so we must push on, Dick, for his Majesty is an early
riser, like myself. We are to have rare sport to-day. Hunting in the
morning, a banquet, and, as I have already intimated, a masque at night,
in which Sir George Goring and Sir John Finett will play, and in which I
have been solicited to take the drolling part of Jem Tospot--nay, laugh
not, Dick, Sherborne says I shall play it to the life--as well as to
find some mirthful dame to enact the companion part of Doll Wango. I
have spoken with two or three on the subject, and fancy one of them will
oblige me. There is another matter on which I am engaged. I am to
present a petition to his Majesty from a great number of the lower
orders in this county, praying they may be allowed to take their
diversions, as of old accustomed, after divine service on Sundays; and,
though I am the last man to desire any violation of the Sabbath, being
somewhat puritanically inclined as they now phrase it, yet I cannot
think any harm can ensue from lawful recreation and honest exercise.
Still, I would any one were chosen to present the petition rather than
myself."

"Have no misgivings on the subject," said Richard, "but urge the matter
strongly; and if you need support, I will give you all I can, for I feel
we are best observing the divine mandate by making the Sabbath a day of
rest, and observing it cheerfully. And this, I apprehend, is the
substance of your petition?"

"The whole sum and substance," replied Nicholas; "and I have reason to
believe his Majesty's wishes are in accordance with it."

"They are known to be so," said Sherborne.

"I am glad to hear it," cried Richard. "God save King James, the friend
of the people!"

"Ay, God save King James!" echoed Nicholas; "and if he I grant this
petition he will prove himself their friend, for he will I have all the
clergy against him, and will be preached against from half the pulpits
in the kingdom."

"Little harm will ensue if it should be so," replied Richard; "for he
will be cheered and protected by the prayers of a grateful and happy
people."

They then rode on for a few minutes in silence, after which; Richard
inquired--

"You had brave doings at Myerscough Lodge, I suppose, Nicholas?"

"Ay, marry had we," answered the squire, "and the feasting must have
cost Ned Tyldesley a pretty penny. Besides the King and his own
particular attendants, there were some dozen noblemen and their
followers, including the Duke of Buckingham, who moves about like a king
himself, and I know not how many knights and gentlemen. Sherborne and I
rode over from Dunnow, and reached the forest immediately after the King
had entered it in his coach; so we took a short cut through the woods,
and came up just in time to join Sir Richard Hoghton's train as he was
riding up to his Majesty. Fancy a wide glade, down which a great gilded
coach is slowly moving, drawn by eight horses, and followed by a host of
noblemen and gentlemen in splendid apparel, their esquires and pages
equally richly arrayed, and equally well mounted; and, after these,
numerous falconers, huntsmen, prickers, foresters, and yeomen, with
staghounds in leash, and hawk on fist, all ready for the sport. Fancy
all this if you can, Dick, and then conceive what a brave sight it must
have been. Well, as I said, we came up in the very nick of time, for
presently the royal coach stopped, and Sir Richard Hoghton, calling all
his gentlemen around him, and bidding us dismount, and we followed him,
and drew up, bareheaded, before the King, while Sir Richard pointed out
to his Majesty the boundaries of the royal forest, and told him he
would find it as well stocked with deer as any in his kingdom. Before
putting an end to the conference, the King complimented the worthy
Knight on the gallant appearance of his train, and on learning we were
all gentlemen, graciously signified his pleasure that some of us should
be presented to him. Amongst others, I was brought forward by Sir
Richard, and liking my looks, I suppose, the King was condescending
enough to enter into conversation with me; and as his discourse chiefly
turned on sporting matters, I was at home with him at once, and he
presently grew so familiar with me, that I almost forgot the presence in
which I stood. However, his Majesty seemed in no way offended by my
freedom, but, on the contrary, clapped me on the shoulder, and said,
'Maister Assheton, for a country gentleman, you're weel-mannered and
weel-informed, and I shall be glad to see more of you while I stay in
these parts.' After this, the good-natured monarch mounted his horse,
and the hunting began, and a famous day's work we made of it, his
Majesty killing no fewer than five fine bucks with his own hand."

"You are clearly on the road to preferment, Nicholas," observed Richard,
with a smile. "You will outstrip Buckingham himself, if you go on in
this way."

"So I tell him," observed Sherborne, laughing; "and, by my faith! young
Sir Gilbert Hoghton, who, owing to his connexion by marriage with
Buckingham, is a greater man than his father, Sir Richard, looked quite
jealous; for the King more than once called out to Nicholas in the
chase, and took the wood-knife from him when he broke up the last deer,
which is accounted a mark of especial favour."

"Well, gentlemen," said the squire, "I shall not stand in my own light,
depend upon it; and, if I should bask in court-sunshine, you shall
partake of the rays. If I do become master of the household, in lieu of
the Duke of Richmond, or master of the horse and cupbearer to his
Majesty, in place of his Grace of Buckingham, I will not forget you."

"We are greatly indebted to you, my Lord Marquess of Downham and Duke of
Pendle Hill, that is to be," rejoined Sherborne, taking off his cap with
mock reverence; "and perhaps, for the sake of your sweet sister and my
spouse, Dorothy, you will make interest to have me appointed gentleman
of the bedchamber?"

"Doubt it not--doubt it not," replied Nicholas, in a patronising tone.

"My ambition soars higher than yours, Sherborne," said Richard; "I must
be lord-keeper of the privy seal, or nothing."

"Oh! what you will, gentlemen, what you will!" cried Nicholas; "you can
ask me nothing I will not grant--always provided I have the means."