"Charles, why seek to deceive me in that way, when I know full well that what I tell you is surely truth? I see with my eyes, I hear with my ears, and I feel with my senses. Only night before last, I was ridden into a field where they partook of a witches' sacrament."
"And what was it, pray?" asked Charles with a smile of incredulity.
"The flesh and blood of a murdered victim."
Charles laughed outright.
"Nay, nay, Charles, you need not laugh," cried Louder, angrily. "She was there, too."
"Who?"
"The maid who hath lived at your house. The offspring of a vile player. Behold, I saw her partake of the sacrament."
Charles Stevens' face alternately paled and flushed as he answered:
"John Louder, you are the prince of liars, and beware how you repeat your falsehoods, or I shall crack your skull."
Louder, who was a coward, as well as superstitious, had a wholesome dread of the stout youth.