"I tell thee not this secret to pleasure thee," continued Mother Chattox, "but to confound Elizabeth Device. I have no other motive. She hath provoked my vengeance, and she shall feel it. Thou art not her child, I say. The secret of thy birth is known to me, but the time is not yet come for its disclosure. It shall out, one day, to the confusion of those who offend me. When thou goest home tell thy reputed mother what I have said, and mark how she takes the information. Ha! who comes here?" The hag's last exclamation was occasioned by the sudden appearance of Mistress Nutter, who opened the door of the chapel, and, staring in astonishment at the group, came quickly forward. "What makes you here, Mother Chattox?" she cried. "I came here to avoid pursuit," replied the old hag, with a cowed manner, and in accents sounding strangely submissive after her late infuriated tone. "What have you been saying to these girls?" demanded Mistress Nutter, authoritatively. "Ask them," the hag replied. "She declares that Alizon is not the daughter of Elizabeth Device," cried Dorothy Assheton. "Indeed!" exclaimed Mistress Nutter quickly, and as if a spring of extraordinary interest had been suddenly touched. "What reason hast thou for this assertion?" "No good reason," replied the old woman evasively, yet with evident apprehension of her questioner. "Good reason or bad, I will have it," cried Mistress Nutter. "What you, too, take an interest in the wench, like the rest!" returned Mother Chattox. "Is she so very winning?" "That is no answer to my question," said the lady. "Whose child is she?" "Ask Bess Device, or Mother Demdike," replied Mother Chattox; "they know more about the matter than me." "I will have thee speak, and to the purpose," cried the lady, angrily. "Many an one has lost a child who would gladly have it back again," said the old hag, mysteriously. "Who has lost one?" asked Mistress Nutter. "Nay, it passeth me to tell," replied the old woman with affected ignorance. "Question those who stole her. I have set you on the track. If you fail in pursuing it, come to me. You know where to find me." "You shall not go thus," said Mistress Nutter. "I will have a direct answer now." And as she spoke she waved her hands twice or thrice over the old woman. In doing this her figure seemed to dilate, and her countenance underwent a marked and fearful change. All her beauty vanished, her eyes blazed, and terror sat on her wrinkled brow. The hag, on the contrary, crouched lower down, and seemed to dwindle less than her ordinary size. Writhing as from heavy blows, and with a mixture of malice and fear in her countenance, she cried, "Were I to speak, you would not thank me. Let me go." "Answer," vociferated Mistress Nutter, disregarding the caution, and speaking in a sharp piercing voice, strangely contrasting with her ordinary utterance. "Answer, I say, or I will beat thee to the dust."