Other Worlds Read Online Free Page B

Jack Bell until he dies."
    In another time and place this malicious lie might have had serious consequences. For in that quiet rural community there was no more suitable candidate for the position of witch than Mrs. Kate Batts.
    We all know, gentlemen, that it is not advisable to allow the ladies to go into trade or follow masculine professions. There is a danger they may find out they are as competent as we! The illness of her husband had forced Mrs. Batts to play a man's role, and she had displayed a remarkable aptitude for business. The family was well-to-do, with a good farm and many slaves. In addition to running the farm Kate had developed a nice trade in woolen goods, keeping her slave women busy spinning and weaving and sewing. This gave her an excuse to call on her neighbors, selling the finished product and buying raw wool. She was an immensely stout woman, and when she set out on her weekly circuit at the head of her troop of servants, she gave the neighborhood quite a show. A servant girl led the way, with Kate's old gray horse. Kate walked behind, dressed in her finest clothes. She had never been seen to ride the horse.
    If Kate Batts had been poor and meek, her eccentricities might have gotten her into trouble. Being wealthy, and the possessor of a particularly vicious tongue, she enjoyed the unwilling respect of her acquaintances. They got their revenge on her by laughing at her behind her back and by repeating stories of her odd behavior—like the time she sat down on a repentant sinner at a revival meeting, and pressed the poor man half to death before he could gasp out a confession of sin and a plea for salvation.
    When word reached Mrs. Batts that the Bell Spirit had claimed to belong to her, there was music in the breeze, as a contemporary witness put it. Her eyes flashed and her tongue flapped at both ends, spitting out curses mixed with the malapropisms for which she was famous. She could not have invented a better defense; the grim accusation became just another funny story about crazy Kate Batts.
    Still, there were a few superstitious people who believed it, especially when they remembered that John Bell had once gotten the better of Kate in a business transaction, and that she had told him what she thought of him in no uncertain terms. These people whispered of Kate's mysterious powers—which no one had happened to notice before the Spirit spoke. So the strange entity that haunted the Bells became known as a witch, and from then on it readily answered when visitors addressed it as "Kate."
    It was a harmless conclusion to an affair that might have ended with the gibbet or the noose or mob violence, and part of the credit must go to John Bell, who consistently and vehemently scoffed at the accusation. Yes, Mrs. Batts had called him rude names and promised to get even with him; she had done the same to other people who had proved sharper in trade. No doubt she was peculiar, but she was a good, pious woman at heart, and the idea of witchcraft was absurd.
    As if annoyed at John Bell's contradiction of its claim, the Spirit proceeded to try his patience to the limit. It introduced four new characters—an entire Witch family. Their names were Blackdog, Mathematics, Cypocryphy and Jerusalem, and the voice that had hitherto been sweet and soft changed to suit these personalities. Blackdog, the head of the family, spoke in a harsh but distinctly feminine voice. Jerusalem's tones were those of a young boy. Mathematics and Cypocryphy had different voices, but both were female. However, their language was quite unbecoming to the gentle sex. The vilest blasphemies and threats shocked the listeners. They sounded, said Richard succinctly, "like a lot of drunken men fighting."
    Vicious threats against John Bell constituted part of the performance, and Mr. Bell seriously considered abandoning his home and moving away. Useless, jeered the "witch family"; they would follow Old Jack to the ends of the earth.
    The Bells'