A fictionalised account of the 1692 Salem witch trials. ut the
widow herself was a privileged person; her known goodness of
heart (the effects of which had been experienced by many) gave
her the liberty of speech which was tacitly denied to many,
under penalty of being esteemed ungodly, if they infringed
certain conventional limits. And Captain Holdernesse and his
mate spoke out their minds, let who would be present. So that,
on this first landing in New England, Lois was, as it were,
gently let down into the midst of the Puritan peculiarities; and
yet they were sufficient to make her feel very lonely and
strange. The first subject of conversation was the present state
of the colony--Lois soon found out that, although at the
beginning she was not a little perplexed by the frequent
reference to names of places which she naturally associated with
the old country. Widow Smith was speaking: 'In county of Essex
the folk are ordered to keep four scouts, or companies of
minutemen; six persons in each company; to be