Page:Salem - a tale of the seventeenth century (IA taleseventeenth00derbrich).pdf/230

 "I do believe in every word of it, my dear Hannah—that is, I believe in your belief; but I can not share it. I found you in a very nervous, excited, and hysterical state when I came in—this you will allow, certainly—and you tell me you were comparatively calm then, because the light had revealed to you that there was no one in the room. If, then, you were still more excited before I came, how can I help feeling that your judgment was at the mercy of your terrors? It seems to me there is really nothing in all this to prove to my senses that it was any thing more than a distempered dream."

"But you seem to forget, William, that I had the evidence of nearly all my senses," said Mrs. Browne. "You forget that I heard the music, that I smelt the sickening odor, that I saw the veiled figure in the hall, and felt his rude grasp upon my arm. What further evidence of my senses could I have?

"William," she said, after a moment's pause, "I will not ask you further to believe me, for I see that you are wholly incredulous, and I have, as you say, no actual proof to give you. I can not make you believe