The Minister's Temptation
Early next morning, Tabitha dressed herself in her warmest cloak and set out for the town of Harmony through the snow. Along the woodland path, she sat down a few times to rest. It was taxing on her body, but she was driven by an energy and purpose that sped her onward.
The church door was a large oak hewn door with iron hinges. She rapped upon it. Not being the Sabbath, she hoped the Minister was close at hand. A cleaning woman opened the door, it was one of the Standish sisters. "You?" Stella Standish looked down at Tabitha as if it were a personal affront for her to show up at the church door, in her unseemly advanced stage of pregnancy.
"I've come to speak to the Minister, if you please."
"He's busy writing a sermon." Stella held her feather duster poised as if she would hit Tabitha like a mangy, stray dog that had come begging for food.
"I must speak with him!" Tabitha insisted, feeling faint.
"I'm sorry. He won't see you today. Get away from the door now-you heard me. Go away!" Stella began to close the door when Tabitha passed out and Stella half caught her in her arms.
"What is it, Stella?" A voice from within inquired.
"It's that Lennox woman, she's fainted." Stella held her as long as she could till she laid Tabitha across the floor at her feet.
"Good Lord!" The Minister ran toward them, taking Tabitha's head in the crook of his arm.
"What will the congregation think, if they were see this woman here! What a disgrace!" Stella peered out on the street to see if any passers by noticed.
"Have a little charity, Mistress Standish and fetch her some water." Reverend Harlow took Tabitha up in his arms and carried her to his one room quarters in the back of the church. He placed her on his simple cot.
Tabitha opened her eyes to find the Minister and Stella Standish standing beside her bed staring at her. The Minister drew a chair up next to the cot and placed a dampened towel over her forehead. "I'm sorry to cause you all this trouble, Reverend." Tabitha said with heart felt sincerity.
"That's all right child. What brings you through the snows? The trials are still very deep for you to have come so far." Reverend Harlow showed sympathy and it warmed Tabitha to the very core.
Tabitha blinked a few times, giving his question some musing. "What brings anyone to a church?"
The Reverend Harlow nodded agreeably to that response. "The word of God. I'm glad you have come."
"I need to speak with you, sir. It's a private matter." Tabitha's eyes wandered back to Stella, who was hanging around, full of scorn, curious to hear what the scandalous woman had to confess. The Reverend Harris turned to Stella and motioned her to leave them alone.
"But Reverend, you should send her away! It's improper for her to be here..." What Stella implied clearly was that it was improper for Tabitha to be left alone with the young Minister in his quarters. Eight months Pregnant or no!
"Don't you have any work to attend to?" Reverend Harlow shamed her into leaving them. "And shut the door!" When Stella reluctantly left with a huff, the Minister turned back to Tabitha, his eyes absorbing the bashful sweetness of this lovely sinner in his bed.
"I've not seen you attend any Mass since arrived in Harmony." He said quietly.
"No sir, Tis true. I've been---trying to figure things out. What I've come to speak to you about, is my child-and other things." Tabitha began.
Reverend Harlow closed his eyes, as if the thought of her bastard child pained him. "Go on,"
"Please, you can't allow Mr. Crane to take my child away from me! It's---wrong!"
"I'm sorry my child, but it's all been decided as being the best thing for all individuals involved. Don't fret," He patted her hand. "Poor Susanna Crane will love this child as if her own. And Alistar, well-he will provide the child with education and opportunities that are beyond your means. And as for Christian upbringing---well, it's God's will"
"God's will?" Tabitha laughed with bitterness at the cruel irony of his statement. "Have you no compassion? This child is all that I have in the world." Tabitha sat up in the bed, placing her hand over her unborn child.
The Reverend's eyes were drawn to her swelling abdomen and he took her hand in his. His fingers stroked the skin of her hand slightly before she snatched it away. "You should have thought about all of this before you tempted your young man to fall into sin."
"You don't understand, I didn't tempt him. It wasn't my fault!" His words were like a slap in the face. She composed herself, careful to choose the right words with which to explain the unbearable.
The Reverend lowered his head down, as if he had heard it all before. He closed his eyes and began praying over her softly, noticing the sweet flush overspreading her charming cheeks.
"The father of my child---is Alistar Crane."
The Minister withdrew from the chair, he said nothing. He didn't know what to say. He paced a moment or two over the braided rug. He seemed to be considering her accusation, perhaps having heard similar accusations of the same thing in the past. It troubled him, if indeed these women were telling the truth. Alistar Crane had donated many of the church's needed monies along the years, and to this day, was one of the largest contributers-even if he didn't attend Mass.
"This is outrageous! What unnatural arts are you about? I'm sorry, my child. It is clear that you are creating slanderous accusations in order to cover up your own sins, and to stop this adoption from proceeding. It won't work."
"For pity's sake, you don't see-he-Mr. Crane---he ---I," Tabitha's eyes watered. "I came into his presence, his power and he had his way with me!" Tabitha said.
The Reverend eyes were now lifted up to her face and eyes. He could understand how any man would desire this young woman. However, her virtue was questionable banking on her poor reputation.
"He's ruined me---and now he wants to take my child!" The Reverend still didn't seem to understand. How to put it delicately? Tabitha didn't know. There was no delicacy about it. "You're a servant of God, that is why I have come to you and no one else." Tabitha clasped her hands together and lifted her eyes to him.
Oh, what eyes they were, thought the Minister. "Madam, I am cut the heart, with your invectives."
"Last June---Alistar Crane raped me---repeatedly." She said in almost a whisper, her eyes fixed on the Minister.
"Madam! The man who perpetrates a villainy, and resolves to go on with it, shows no compunction-but a woman? That is much worse. No more of these impure thoughts!" Was it said for Tabitha's benefit or his own? "It's bad enough that you willfully fell into temptation and sin, but it's another to blame it on an upstanding citizen like Alistar Crane. His Christian charity will save your child from wicked fires of hell and damnation! I can do nothing to help you." The Reverend pronounced sadly.
Tabitha threw her head back and wanted to laugh at this last outrage. Oh, the wickedness---the irony! Alistar Crane, the most Christian man--saving her child from the fires of hell! Ha! If he only knew! She wanted to laugh out loud. "He wishes for my child to grow up to be an Imperial Wizard!" She blurted out, and instantly wished she had not. Not that the Reverend understood a word of it. She could hardly stop herself from going completely mad now and she knew the Reverend was witnessing her insane reaction. Perhaps they would rightly place her in the Home for the Feeble Minded after all.
"You're lucky you haven't been run out of town, your a wicked, wicked woman." The Reverend stood back from her, desperately afraid that by one touch, she would tempt him as well. She was a beautiful girl, after all.
For the first time, the infectious thoughts of bewitchment came to his mind. "What the devil ails me?" He thought miserably. His growing desire for this pregnant woman must be because she had bewitched him. The longing to reach out and smother her face and skin with kisses, to bury his face in her hair and lay his head on her breast..... Although Reverend Harlow was a protestant, he had recently read some translated texts from the most misogynist work to ever come out of the Middle Ages, the "Malleus Mallifacarum": the Witches Hammer. The Catholic church had used the work as a professional manual for witch hunters during the time of the Inquisition's war against Heresy. The book, written by two Inquisitors, instructed the church on how to recognize a witch and deal with them. Since the troubles they had in Salem, the Protestant church had copied the texts as insurance and passed them among New England's Ministers.
Tabitha raised herself out of the bed and placed her feet on the floor. Some instinct seemed to grow within her, where she knew in her heart that this man of God was no different from the rest and that he would not help her. She watched the Minister drop to his knees before her, his hands folded together. There was no goodness, no mercy to be found in this God-less place. These people of Harmony had made her friendless and destitute when they could have opened their arms to her. No more! Tabitha said to herself. With sorrow she left him praying by the bedside, as if he were in mortal anguish.
Tabitha knew that it costs more pains to be wicked, than it would cost for her to good. What a confounded recourse for her to puzzle herself with. Yet, she thought, I am tumbling into the pit. She rested herself on the edge of town before taking to the long trek back to the cottage in the woods.
Reverand Harlow canceled all his appointments with the usual sinners and saints that day. He later took a hasty carriage to the Crane estate. It was an unusual, unplanned visit, for Alistar had never invited the Minister to his home. When the Reverend was announced, Alistar Crane took him into his study, gave orders for them not to be disturbed. He knew this day was coming. What transpired in that study would wheel the engines of Tabitha's destiny, and the destiny of Harmony residents far into the future.
Without replying a yes or a no to the Minister's account of Tabitha's accusation of rape, Alistar merely unlocked his safe. He took out several documents imprinted with the King's seal and placed them before Reverend Harlow to cast his eyes upon. Reverend Harlow, having been shaken by the shock of being tempted by the woman, took them up and began to read in silence each page before him, making the occasional sign of the cross, much to Alistar's amusement.
The document was the record of the court trial that took place in the year 1689 in London, England. The Reverend stared up at Alistar in shock and disbelief. He continued to read the documents, with a tormented anguish he had never known before. Alistar noticed that the Reverend shed tears upon the last page after reading it.
"Tabitha Lennox, spinster, aged seventeen, was brought to trial in Justice Hall Court in Old Bailey on the fifth of May, 1689. The Lord Mayor of London pronounced sentence on the accused. "We the Judges, by the Mercy of God and the law of England, in the said cause of Justice, find you the accused, Tabitha Lennox guilty of the heinous practice of witchcraft. It is my duty to pass upon you the sentence of the court which our just law enjoins. The sentence of the Court is that you be taken from this place to a place of execution and there be burned at the stake until you are dead.
And may the Lord have mercy on your soul."
Early next morning, Tabitha dressed herself in her warmest cloak and set out for the town of Harmony through the snow. Along the woodland path, she sat down a few times to rest. It was taxing on her body, but she was driven by an energy and purpose that sped her onward.
The church door was a large oak hewn door with iron hinges. She rapped upon it. Not being the Sabbath, she hoped the Minister was close at hand. A cleaning woman opened the door, it was one of the Standish sisters. "You?" Stella Standish looked down at Tabitha as if it were a personal affront for her to show up at the church door, in her unseemly advanced stage of pregnancy.
"I've come to speak to the Minister, if you please."
"He's busy writing a sermon." Stella held her feather duster poised as if she would hit Tabitha like a mangy, stray dog that had come begging for food.
"I must speak with him!" Tabitha insisted, feeling faint.
"I'm sorry. He won't see you today. Get away from the door now-you heard me. Go away!" Stella began to close the door when Tabitha passed out and Stella half caught her in her arms.
"What is it, Stella?" A voice from within inquired.
"It's that Lennox woman, she's fainted." Stella held her as long as she could till she laid Tabitha across the floor at her feet.
"Good Lord!" The Minister ran toward them, taking Tabitha's head in the crook of his arm.
"What will the congregation think, if they were see this woman here! What a disgrace!" Stella peered out on the street to see if any passers by noticed.
"Have a little charity, Mistress Standish and fetch her some water." Reverend Harlow took Tabitha up in his arms and carried her to his one room quarters in the back of the church. He placed her on his simple cot.
Tabitha opened her eyes to find the Minister and Stella Standish standing beside her bed staring at her. The Minister drew a chair up next to the cot and placed a dampened towel over her forehead. "I'm sorry to cause you all this trouble, Reverend." Tabitha said with heart felt sincerity.
"That's all right child. What brings you through the snows? The trials are still very deep for you to have come so far." Reverend Harlow showed sympathy and it warmed Tabitha to the very core.
Tabitha blinked a few times, giving his question some musing. "What brings anyone to a church?"
The Reverend Harlow nodded agreeably to that response. "The word of God. I'm glad you have come."
"I need to speak with you, sir. It's a private matter." Tabitha's eyes wandered back to Stella, who was hanging around, full of scorn, curious to hear what the scandalous woman had to confess. The Reverend Harris turned to Stella and motioned her to leave them alone.
"But Reverend, you should send her away! It's improper for her to be here..." What Stella implied clearly was that it was improper for Tabitha to be left alone with the young Minister in his quarters. Eight months Pregnant or no!
"Don't you have any work to attend to?" Reverend Harlow shamed her into leaving them. "And shut the door!" When Stella reluctantly left with a huff, the Minister turned back to Tabitha, his eyes absorbing the bashful sweetness of this lovely sinner in his bed.
"I've not seen you attend any Mass since arrived in Harmony." He said quietly.
"No sir, Tis true. I've been---trying to figure things out. What I've come to speak to you about, is my child-and other things." Tabitha began.
Reverend Harlow closed his eyes, as if the thought of her bastard child pained him. "Go on,"
"Please, you can't allow Mr. Crane to take my child away from me! It's---wrong!"
"I'm sorry my child, but it's all been decided as being the best thing for all individuals involved. Don't fret," He patted her hand. "Poor Susanna Crane will love this child as if her own. And Alistar, well-he will provide the child with education and opportunities that are beyond your means. And as for Christian upbringing---well, it's God's will"
"God's will?" Tabitha laughed with bitterness at the cruel irony of his statement. "Have you no compassion? This child is all that I have in the world." Tabitha sat up in the bed, placing her hand over her unborn child.
The Reverend's eyes were drawn to her swelling abdomen and he took her hand in his. His fingers stroked the skin of her hand slightly before she snatched it away. "You should have thought about all of this before you tempted your young man to fall into sin."
"You don't understand, I didn't tempt him. It wasn't my fault!" His words were like a slap in the face. She composed herself, careful to choose the right words with which to explain the unbearable.
The Reverend lowered his head down, as if he had heard it all before. He closed his eyes and began praying over her softly, noticing the sweet flush overspreading her charming cheeks.
"The father of my child---is Alistar Crane."
The Minister withdrew from the chair, he said nothing. He didn't know what to say. He paced a moment or two over the braided rug. He seemed to be considering her accusation, perhaps having heard similar accusations of the same thing in the past. It troubled him, if indeed these women were telling the truth. Alistar Crane had donated many of the church's needed monies along the years, and to this day, was one of the largest contributers-even if he didn't attend Mass.
"This is outrageous! What unnatural arts are you about? I'm sorry, my child. It is clear that you are creating slanderous accusations in order to cover up your own sins, and to stop this adoption from proceeding. It won't work."
"For pity's sake, you don't see-he-Mr. Crane---he ---I," Tabitha's eyes watered. "I came into his presence, his power and he had his way with me!" Tabitha said.
The Reverend eyes were now lifted up to her face and eyes. He could understand how any man would desire this young woman. However, her virtue was questionable banking on her poor reputation.
"He's ruined me---and now he wants to take my child!" The Reverend still didn't seem to understand. How to put it delicately? Tabitha didn't know. There was no delicacy about it. "You're a servant of God, that is why I have come to you and no one else." Tabitha clasped her hands together and lifted her eyes to him.
Oh, what eyes they were, thought the Minister. "Madam, I am cut the heart, with your invectives."
"Last June---Alistar Crane raped me---repeatedly." She said in almost a whisper, her eyes fixed on the Minister.
"Madam! The man who perpetrates a villainy, and resolves to go on with it, shows no compunction-but a woman? That is much worse. No more of these impure thoughts!" Was it said for Tabitha's benefit or his own? "It's bad enough that you willfully fell into temptation and sin, but it's another to blame it on an upstanding citizen like Alistar Crane. His Christian charity will save your child from wicked fires of hell and damnation! I can do nothing to help you." The Reverend pronounced sadly.
Tabitha threw her head back and wanted to laugh at this last outrage. Oh, the wickedness---the irony! Alistar Crane, the most Christian man--saving her child from the fires of hell! Ha! If he only knew! She wanted to laugh out loud. "He wishes for my child to grow up to be an Imperial Wizard!" She blurted out, and instantly wished she had not. Not that the Reverend understood a word of it. She could hardly stop herself from going completely mad now and she knew the Reverend was witnessing her insane reaction. Perhaps they would rightly place her in the Home for the Feeble Minded after all.
"You're lucky you haven't been run out of town, your a wicked, wicked woman." The Reverend stood back from her, desperately afraid that by one touch, she would tempt him as well. She was a beautiful girl, after all.
For the first time, the infectious thoughts of bewitchment came to his mind. "What the devil ails me?" He thought miserably. His growing desire for this pregnant woman must be because she had bewitched him. The longing to reach out and smother her face and skin with kisses, to bury his face in her hair and lay his head on her breast..... Although Reverend Harlow was a protestant, he had recently read some translated texts from the most misogynist work to ever come out of the Middle Ages, the "Malleus Mallifacarum": the Witches Hammer. The Catholic church had used the work as a professional manual for witch hunters during the time of the Inquisition's war against Heresy. The book, written by two Inquisitors, instructed the church on how to recognize a witch and deal with them. Since the troubles they had in Salem, the Protestant church had copied the texts as insurance and passed them among New England's Ministers.
Tabitha raised herself out of the bed and placed her feet on the floor. Some instinct seemed to grow within her, where she knew in her heart that this man of God was no different from the rest and that he would not help her. She watched the Minister drop to his knees before her, his hands folded together. There was no goodness, no mercy to be found in this God-less place. These people of Harmony had made her friendless and destitute when they could have opened their arms to her. No more! Tabitha said to herself. With sorrow she left him praying by the bedside, as if he were in mortal anguish.
Tabitha knew that it costs more pains to be wicked, than it would cost for her to good. What a confounded recourse for her to puzzle herself with. Yet, she thought, I am tumbling into the pit. She rested herself on the edge of town before taking to the long trek back to the cottage in the woods.
Reverand Harlow canceled all his appointments with the usual sinners and saints that day. He later took a hasty carriage to the Crane estate. It was an unusual, unplanned visit, for Alistar had never invited the Minister to his home. When the Reverend was announced, Alistar Crane took him into his study, gave orders for them not to be disturbed. He knew this day was coming. What transpired in that study would wheel the engines of Tabitha's destiny, and the destiny of Harmony residents far into the future.
Without replying a yes or a no to the Minister's account of Tabitha's accusation of rape, Alistar merely unlocked his safe. He took out several documents imprinted with the King's seal and placed them before Reverend Harlow to cast his eyes upon. Reverend Harlow, having been shaken by the shock of being tempted by the woman, took them up and began to read in silence each page before him, making the occasional sign of the cross, much to Alistar's amusement.
The document was the record of the court trial that took place in the year 1689 in London, England. The Reverend stared up at Alistar in shock and disbelief. He continued to read the documents, with a tormented anguish he had never known before. Alistar noticed that the Reverend shed tears upon the last page after reading it.
"Tabitha Lennox, spinster, aged seventeen, was brought to trial in Justice Hall Court in Old Bailey on the fifth of May, 1689. The Lord Mayor of London pronounced sentence on the accused. "We the Judges, by the Mercy of God and the law of England, in the said cause of Justice, find you the accused, Tabitha Lennox guilty of the heinous practice of witchcraft. It is my duty to pass upon you the sentence of the court which our just law enjoins. The sentence of the Court is that you be taken from this place to a place of execution and there be burned at the stake until you are dead.
And may the Lord have mercy on your soul."