White-faced and trembling, Quill sat down.

The hearing went quite smoothly for quite a while. John questioned Purity first. She described the nature of the charges she originally made, and then told how Quill had deformed them, turning harmless frolicking in the river into an incestuous orgy, and a peaceful conversation on the riverbank into a witches’ sabbath. He asked her about the professors from the college, and she affirmed that she had never mentioned them and only found out they were being questioned when Quill demanded that she denounce them, Emerson in particular.

Then the professors were brought forward, one at a time, to recount the experience of being questioned by Quill. Each one stated that he had been led to believe that others had confessed and implicated them, and that their only hope was to confess and repent. All denied being the one who confessed.

Then John turned to Quill.

“Aren’t you going to question him first?” Quill said, pointing to Alvin.

“Have you forgotten whose hearing this is?” asked John.

“I just want to hear whether he denies the witchcraft charges!”

“You’ll find that out in the trial,” said John, “since the accused can be called to give testimony against themselves in witch trials.”

“You’re favoring him,” said Quill.

“You’re testing my patience,” said John. “Put your hand on the Bible and take your oath.”

Quill complied, and the questioning began. Quill answered scornfully, denying that he had deceived anyone. “She’s the one who talked of Satan. I had to stop my ears, she spoke of him so lovingly. She wanted carnal knowledge of him. She even told me that Satan had instructed her to lie and say I made up the story, but I was not afraid because I knew that in lawful courts, my testimony would have greater trust than hers.”

John listened to Quill calmly enough, as his testimony grew nastier and nastier. “These professors behave exactly as one would expect a conclave of wizards to behave,” said Quill. “I wouldn’t have questioned them if the girl hadn’t denounced them. She thought better of it at once, of course, and tried to deny it, but I knew what she had told me, and it was enough. They deny that they confessed, but several of them did, as my depositions to the court affirm.”

John picked up a pile of affidavits from the bench. “I do have those depositions and I’ve read them all.”

“So you know the truth, and this whole hearing is a travesty.”

“If it is,” said John, “it follows the script you wrote.”

“I wrote no script for this,” said Quill. “I expected this court to function like a proper witch trial.”

“But Mr. Quill, this is not a witch trial. This is a hearing on a motion. You seem unable to grasp that. This proceeding has been entirely proper. And I am ready now with my ruling on the motion.”

“But you haven’t questioned Alvin Smith!”

“All right,” said John. “Mr. Smith, how are you today?”