44 THE FIRESIDE SPHINX 



ceeded to his brother s title and inheritance. Him, 

 too, she bewitched, with the ready aid of Rutterkin, 

 and the poor child, wasting in hideous pain, died in 

 his mother s arms. Then, to complete the ruin she 

 had wrought, and to insure the downfall of a noble 

 house, Joan possessed herself of some feathers from 

 the bed of the Countess, and rubbed them upon 

 Rutterkin s belly, that the now childless woman 

 might never again give birth to a living infant. 

 The feathers and the gloves she obtained through 

 her daughter, Margaret, who was a servant in the 

 castle, and who shared her mother s animosity, and 

 her mother s crimes. 



Both Margaret and a younger sister, Phyllis 

 Flower, what charming names this witch s brood 

 possessed ! gave their evidence unreservedly at 

 the trial ; admitting all the circumstances related, 

 and hoping perhaps that, by freely incriminating 

 their parent, they might themselves escape. In 

 this hope they were deceived, and the two girls 

 were hanged in the year of grace 1618. Joan, how 

 ever, who was either a stout-hearted old sinner or a 

 deeply calumniated saint, refused to make any con 

 fession, and maintained her innocence steadfastly, 

 in the face of her daughters accusations. Even in 

 prison she persistently and solemnly denied the 

 charges brought against her, praying that the bread 

 she ate might choke her if she had ever been guilty 



