Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1888-02-09

IatcI. AS / entered saw <nani
sitting back in an old chad <ith s
shaded lamp on the table &C. bin
and some books and papers il cir.
Gle Of light. The room was q and
circnlar, and was, as I con- Enrai
half way up the tower that Il given
its name to the building. A ~Iadow,
made visible from time to time 81 The
lightning. opened on the outer and
/ noticed with a sort Of dull opler
:, thas there saensaAsbsa - 5s5sfcng
bars defending it, perhaps a relic Of
old times when the room was n prison.
] cannot tell.
Ny friend did not rise from his
chair to greet me. He motioned lang
uidly to a seat near him, and for some
minutes / sat and looked at him, and
he stared at the door. / noticed a
new and alarming change in him,
since / had seen him last. Then, his
look had been almost malevolent, in
stinct with a positive hatred for IN en-;
now all passion, all life, good or bad,
seemed extinct in him. He looked
worn and wasted; but it was the set
tied stony hopelessness of his face that
struck me most; and the pity that l
felt for him in his old days of poverty
now revived tsnfold.
After long pause, only broken by
the mufiled growls of the nearer thun-
der, he spoke.
II hardly thought you would come"
he said; "but now you are here, you
had better read this. There is not
much time to explain" and he point
ed to a yellow and torn old manuscript
lying on the table.
was perplexed by this, for why
should l have been sent for in hot
haste to read an ancient document OF
this sort? But I did not inquire or
object. 1t all seemed part of the in
explicable dream in which l was NOV.
ing. took up the roll and begun to
look into it.
1t was Grabbed and quaint in writ
ing and style, and it would only be
prePlexing to give its antique phrase
ology and obsolete Scotch law terms
and phrases, even if l remembered
them. But the substance of it was
plain. 1t was a record of the trial
and condemnation Of Alexander Mac
bane of Dullas Tower for witchoraft,
early in the seventeenth century.
After many preliminaries, over which
| passed hastily, the narrative came
to the confession OF the wizard. This
was apparently volunteered, and not
extOrted by any torture; but such
cases were by no means rare at that
time, l think. The popularity of this
confession was that it was clear, con-
sistent, rational even Gf so wild tale
could be called RATIONAL and did not
involve any one beside the wizard
himself. Actual torture was applied,
it would seem, to make Alexander
Macbane implicate an old crone tried
at the same time, but in vain. The
devil" he had said, "was no fool; he
had better servants than these poor
women" These particulars, petty
though they may be, struck my atten-
tion at the time, and l have never
been able to forget them since.
Briefly put, the gist of Alexander
Macbane's confession was as follows:
he admitted that he had, by certain
magic processes which he refused to
reveal because their very simplicity
might lead others to use them), secured
the services of strange familiar.
This Thing owned him as master and
did his bidding, though only in one
way-it could slay, and nothing more.
He had killed by it two men, kinsmen
of his, one his enemy and one his
friend, who had in fact Ia marginal
note stated) died in a sudden and
strange manner. But that which he
had regarded as his servant (the con-
fession went on to say) had become
his master, and he bondslave TO its
devilish power. It was jealous OF all
he did; it had cut off any beast for
which he showed fondness, and il
had driven him to cast of all his
friends and to give up all friendly
feeling for men. One man, whom he
had loved, he had bidden it slay or
else it would have slain himself. The
thing needed to have victims pointed
out to it at certain intervals, or il
turned on its master. Being asked
how he knew the intentions Of his
familiar, the wizard answered that hs
could not tell how, but he divined
its thoughts, even as, he felt sure. il
: read his. To the inquiry what form