I have now told how I came by these confessions of Roger Trewinion, so I need write little more concerning them.
Let it be understood, however, that my only share in the story is that of editor and reviser. Much of it had to be re-written and much of the dialect transposed into ordinary English. Still, the history stands practically as I found it, and, wherever I have re-written or revised, I have endeavoured to retain the spirit in which Roger Trewinion originally wrote.
Of the belief and deeds of the writer, I may have a few words to say by and bye; but my only duty at present is to lay before you the history he wrote at a time when strange deeds were done in this western county, and when its people were influenced and bound by strange and sometimes cruel superstitions.
THE END OF PROLOGUE.
CHAPTER I
THE PROPHETIC WARNING
"And the boys grew, and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents. And Isaac loved Esau; but Rebekah loved Jacob."
What I, Roger Trewinion, am about to write is true. I tell what I have seen, and heard, and have been.
I was born in the year of our Lord, 1750. I am now sixty years of age.