Page:Salem - a tale of the seventeenth century (IA taleseventeenth00derbrich).pdf/159

 At this time, it would seem that, though many accusations had been made, and several, after undergoing a preliminary examination, had been committed, there had been no actual trials, and, of course, no convictions or condemnations; consequently it may be that the prisoner and her friends, although fully alive to the disgrace and obloquy of such a charge, did not realize the awful peril of death in which she was now standing.

It was bitterness enough that, sick and feeble as she was in health, infirm and aged, she was taken all unprepared from her quiet and comfortable home, and the tender care of her devoted husband and children, upon a charge so utterly unfounded, and subjected to an examination so harrowing and so disgraceful.

The preliminary examination of this venerable "Mother in Israel" took place at once in the village meeting-house, the magistrate Hathorne commencing the proceedings, making himself the mouthpiece of the assembly; and it is noticeable all through these examinations that Hathorne, full of zeal, took an active and prominent part in them, al