“There’s no other law that works that way.”

“That’s because we got witch laws, Very. Get rid of them, and people will find a way take all the sins of the world and put them onto the heads of some fellow who’s attracted their attention and then destroy him and all his friends.”

“Purity isn’t evil, Alvin.”

“Quill is,” said Alvin.

The sheriff leaned down. “I’m trying not to listen, boys, but you know it’s a crime to speak ill of a witcher. This Quill, he takes it as evidence that Satan’s got you by the short hairs, begging your pardon.”

“Thank you for the reminder, sir,” said Verily. “My client didn’t mean it quite the way it sounded.”

The sheriff rolled his eyes. “From what I’ve seen, it doesn’t matter much how it sounds when you say it. What matters is how it sounds when Quill repeats it.”

Verily grinned at the sheriff and then at Alvin.

“What are you smiling at?” asked Alvin.

“I just got all the proof I need that you’re wrong. People don’t like the way the witch trials work. People don’t like injustice. Strike down these laws and no one will miss them.”

Alvin shook his head. “Good people won’t miss them. But it wasn’t good people as set them up in the first place. It was scared people. The world ain’t steady. Bad things happen even when you been careful and done no wrong. Good people, strong people, they take that in stride, but them as is scared and weak, they want somebody to blame. The good people will think they’ve stamped out witch trials, but the next generation they’ll turn around and there they’ll be again, wearing a different hat, going by a different name, but witch trials all the same, where they care more about getting somebody punished than whether they’re actually guilty of anything.”

“Then we’ll stamp them out again,” said Verily.

Alvin shrugged. “Of course we will, once we figure out what’s what and who’s who. Maybe next time the witchers will go after folks with opinions they don’t like, or folks who pray the wrong way or in the wrong place, or folks who look ugly or talk funny, or folks who aren’t polite enough, or folks who wear the wrong clothes. Someday they may hold witch trials to condemn people for being Puritans.”

Verily leaned over and whispered into Alvin’s ear. “Meaning no disrespect, Al, it’s your wife who can see into the future, not you.”

“No whispering,” said the sheriff. “You might be giving me the pox.” He chuckled, but there was just a little bit of genuine worry in his voice.

Alvin answered Verily out loud. “Meaning no disrespect, Very, it don’t take a knack to know that human nature ain’t going to change anytime soon.”

Verily stood up. “It’s time for the arraignment, Alvin. There’s no point in our talking philosophy before a trial. I never knew till now that you were so cynical about human nature.”