Абрахам Меррит: Burn, Witch, Burn!

He had not sat down; still in that strained voice he repeated: "I asked you if you called the killing of the

witch an illusion."

I said: "You make it very uncomfortable for me, Ricori-staring at me like that…and I am answering your

question. I repeat it is possible that in her own mind she was at times the victim of the same illusions she

induced in the minds of others. That at times she, herself, thought the dolls were alive. That in this strange

mind was conceived a hatred for the doll of Walters. And, at the last, under the irritation of our attack,

this belief reacted upon her. That thought was in my mind when, a while ago, I said it was curious that

you should speak of the dark wisdom turning against those who possessed it. She tormented the doll; she

expected the doll to avenge itself if it had the opportunity. So strong was this belief, or expectation, that

when the favorable moment arrived, she dramatized it. Her thought became action! The doll-maker, like

you, may well have plunged the dagger-pin into her own throat-"

"You fool!"

The words came from Ricori's mouth-and yet it was so like Madame Mandilip speaking in her haunted

room and speaking through the dead lips of Laschna that I dropped back into my chair, shuddering.

Ricori was leaning over the table. His black eyes were blank, expressionless. I cried out, sharply, a panic

shaking me: "Ricori-wake-"

The dreadful blankness in his eyes flicked away; their gaze sharpened, was intent upon me. He said,

again in his own voice:

"I am awake, I am so awake-that I will listen to you no more! Instead-listen, you to me, Dr. Lowell. I

say to you-to hell with your science! I tell you this-that beyond the curtain of the material at which your

vision halts, there are forces and energies that hate us, yet which God in his inscrutable wisdom permits to

be. I tell you that these powers can reach through the veil of matter and become manifest in creatures like

the doll-maker. It is so! Witches and sorcerers hand in hand with evil! It is so! And there are powers

friendly to us which make themselves manifest in their chosen ones.

"I say to you-Madame Mandilip was an accursed witch! An instrument of the evil powers! Whore of

Satan! She burned as a witch should burn in hell-forever! I say to you that the little nurse was an

instrument of the good powers. And she is happy today in Paradise-as she shall be forever!"

He was silent, trembling with his own fervor. He touched my shoulder:

"Tell me, Dr. Lowell-tell me as truthfully as though you stood before the seat of God, believing in Him as

I believe-do those scientific explanations of yours truly satisfy you?"

I answered, very quietly:

"No, Ricori."

Nor do they.

THE END