The Witch Hunter's Tale(86)
Joseph rose to defend his actions. “To question the will of God in this way is blasphemy,” he cried out. “The cold continues because the Lord still finds fault with the city. It means that we must continue to labor in His vineyards.”
“I am not questioning the will of God, but the actions of men,” I replied. “The horrible truth, the truth that holds us in these frozen fetters, is that even as we have sent some witches to the gallows—and praise be to God for that—we have missed Satan’s Adam, his very first witch, the one who lured all others into that damnable art.”
“Speak plainly, Lady Bridget.” The Lord Mayor’s voice seemed curiously strong coming from such an aged body. “Who is Satan’s Adam? Who is this witch?”
“He is here in this room,” I replied.
Complete silence greeted my words. While most on the Council looked around the room wondering whom I meant, Joseph sat still as a stone. I could not imagine that he understood my plan—or, to be fair, Rebecca’s plan—but it seemed clear that my words had taken him unawares.
“You might wonder how your colleague, Mr. Joseph Hodgson, has become so skilled in finding witches,” I continued. “And it might seem strange that he is so adept in gaining their confidence and confessions. After all, what instruction has he had in that work? There were no witches in Parliament’s armies, and there were none in his household. He has never been to university, nor did he study demonology under some master. How then does he know so much of witches and witchcraft?”
The Council sat in silence, every one of them now looking past Joseph at me. For a moment I wished I could see Joseph’s face to better judge his reaction, but I kept my place behind him. All in the room must have known, or at least guessed, what I was about to say, but nevertheless they waited for the words.
“The truth is that the devil counts Joseph Hodgson among his most loyal agents.”
Joseph leaped to his feet shouting his objections, and most on the Council began to shout along with him, drowning out his protests. The Lord Mayor pounded on the table, hoping to restore some semblance of order, but it only added to the din. Joseph turned to face me, his eyes alight with fury. He started to speak, but I could not hear him for all the noise. After a moment he realized he’d turned his back to the Council and risked losing them. He cursed, turned around, and resumed crying up his innocence.
“You may wonder how I know this,” I cried.
A few of the Aldermen closest to me heard my words and stopped their chattering. Others soon followed suit.
“You may wonder if this is not some fantasy born of overheated dreams,” I said. “But I have a witness, one who can attest to the truth of my words. And she is here now.”
Rebecca Hooke’s footsteps echoed through the chamber as she stepped out of the shadows. I had left the hall’s door ajar so that she could enter silently. She continued past me until she reached the Lord Mayor’s side. Now we stood at either end of the table, the City Council between us, owned by us.
“Members of the Council,” she said, her voice still weak from the throttling I’d given her. “For these last weeks, I have been Mr. Hodgson’s helpmeet in his search for witches. During that time I believed that he had an especial talent for finding those who had joined Satan’s ranks. And I was happy to be a solider in the army of the Lord.”
I could not help admiring how skillfully she had reduced her role in the hangings from war-captain to mere foot soldier.
“But I have recently discovered that I have been an unwitting aid to the devil himself, and that Mr. Hodgson owes his success in finding witches not to the Lord our God but to that fallen angel, Satan himself. Not ten days ago I found in his possession a bead-roll of all York’s witches, a list of every last one. And each name had been written in the same infernal and unnatural hand. Joseph Hodgson has been able to find witches because he is among their number and because the devil has told him who they were!”
The Aldermen leaped to their feet, and once again chaos reigned. Some demanded to see this book, some shouted for Joseph’s arrest, while Joseph insisted over the din that there was no such book. It took some doing, but at last the Lord Mayor imposed order on the crowd. The Aldermen turned to face Rebecca.
“You must wonder why I did not expose Mr. Hodgson as soon as I saw his book.” Some on the Council nodded in agreement. “The truth is that I feared for my life. And it was not until I learned that Lady Hodgson shared similar suspicions that I could muster the courage to confront Mr. Hodgson.”