The Lancashire Witches: A Romance of Pendle Forest

m that the priest sent by the Earl of Derby was without, and immediately afterwards the confessor was ushered in. It was the tall monk, who had been standing between the biers, and his features w

ew took cour

at are you?"

deep and thrilling accents, but without raising his hood; "and I

abbey?" asked Pas

rn tone; "but the monastery is diss

me?" cri

nk you of the awful situation in which you are placed, and that before many hours you must an

m fault, I had little wherewith to reproach myself-little to fear from a merciful judge-unless it were that I indulged too strongly the desire of ruling absolutely in the house in which I was then only second. But Satan had laid a snar

" said

then abbot, Borlace Alvetham would succeed him, and then it was that bitter feelings of animosity were

ion," cried the m

monastic rules by wandering forth at night upon the hills. When he was absent thus one night, accompanied by others of the brethren, I visited his chamber, and examined his papers, some of which were covered with mystical figures and cabalistic characters. These papers I seized, and a watch was set to make prisone

m the monk, but he offer

ring death," pursued the abbot; "and it devo

nt moved you?" cried the mo

eme. The prey was fairly in my toils, and I would give him no chance of escape. Not to b

lve," observ

ungeon styled in our monastic rolls, and it is well described, for it is black and strong enough. Food is admitted to the miserable inmate of the cell by means of a revolving stone, but no interchange of speech can be held with those without. A large stone is removed from the wall to admit the prisoner, and once immured, the masonry is mortised, and made solid as before. The wretched captive does not long survive h

ve!" groane

in that narrow chamber, or forcing his way upwards, to catch a glimpse of the blue sky above him. When I have seen the

" said

doleful hymn. There he stood amidst them, his tall form towering above the rest, and his features pale as death. He protested his innocence, but he exhibited no fear, even when he saw the terrible preparations. When all was ready he was led to the breach. At that awful moment, his eye

ts, broken only by the sobs of th

hed in the cell?" he de

e escaped it, it must have been by miracle; or by aid of t

g back his hood. "Look up, John Paslew. Look

cried the abbot. "

condemnation. You shall now learn how I am here to repay the wrong you did me. We have changed places, John Paslew, since the night

Alvetham, since you are, indeed, he!"

and drank; after which I scaled the narrow staircase, and gazed through the thin barred loophole at the bright blue sky above, sometimes catching the shadow of a bird as it flew past. Oh, how I yearned for freedom then! Oh, how I wished to break through the stone walls that held me fast! Oh, what a weight of despair crushed my heart as I crept back to my narrow bed! The cell seemed like a grave, and indeed it was little better. Horrible thoughts possessed me. What if I should be wilfully forgotten? What if no food should be given me, and I should

ess. Thou hast only to w

and Joh

see nothing but a pair of red orb

inued the voice. 'Thou shalt

, and in an instant I was dragged up the narrow steps. The stone wall opened before my unseen conductor, and in another moment we were

ry; 'but I am a generous master, and will give thee a long term o

d, a spirit of infernal vengeance posse

s place; for it is perilous to thee, and if thou stayest here, ill will befall thee. I will send a rat to thy dungeon, which shall daily devour the provisions, so that the monks shall not know thou hast fled. In thirty and one years shall the abbot'

l of the watch-dogs near the gate. The fair abbey slept in beauty around me, and I gnashed my teeth with rage to think that you had made me an outcast from it, and robbed me of a di

ars after your immurement in the cell, the food having been for some time untouched, the wall

and beneath brighter skies I need not tell you; but neither absence nor lapse of years cooled my desire of vengeance, and when

claimed

ld it on the dormitory roof. All things were then told me, and I learnt how the late rebellion

ensued, and deep emotion marked the

art was seared; but it was not so. The savage beauty of Bess pleased me more than the most refined charms could have done, and her fierce character harmonised with my own. How I won her matters not, but she cast off all thoughts of Ashbead, and clung to me. My wild life suited her; and she roamed the wastes with me, scaled the hills in my company, and shrank not from the weird meetings I attended. Ill repute quickly attended her, and she became branded as a witch. Her aged mother closed her doors

s!" exclai

asting curse upon its innocent head, and through it transfixed its mother's heart. If you had compl

advanced to the abbot, and, seizing his arm, fixe

aker. Can that malediction be recalled? Dare not to trifle with me, or I will tear

ed the abbot, half

g him from him. "To the gallows!-to the