Shortly after the arrest and incarceration of Goodwife Nurse, Reverend Deodat Lawson, an eminent Boston divine, came to Salem village. All land travel at that time was on horseback. He lodged at the house of Nathaniel Ingersol near the home of the minister Mr. Parris. The appearance of a foreigner in the village was at once the signal for making a new convert, and the afflicted put themselves on exhibition to convince him that evil spirits were abroad. He had been but a short time at the house of Ingersol, when Captain Walcut's daughter Mary came to see him and speak with him. She greeted him with a smile, and hoped he had had a pleasant journey.
It was now growing late, and she stood in the door bidding all good-evening, preparatory to going home. Suddenly the girl gave utterance to a wild shriek and leaped into the house, holding her wrist in her left hand.
"What is the matter?" asked Mr. Lawson.
"I am bitten on the wrist," she cried.
"Surely you cannot be bitten, for I have seen nothing to bite you."
"Nevertheless, I am bitten. It is a witch that hath bitten me."
The candle had been burning all the while in the apartment, and Mr. Lawson knew that no one could have been in the room without his knowledge.
"Some one hath grievously bitten me!" the girl sobbed.
Mr. Lawson seized the candle and, holding it to her wrist, saw apparently the marks of teeth, both upper and lower set, on each side of her wrist. He was lost in wonder and, placing the candle on the mantel, remarked:
"It is a mystery."