Deliver us from Evil Read Free

not see what he was looking at, but when he turned round to look up at the ministers, there was an expression of revulsion and pity on his face.
    'Who would - who could - do such a thing?' he murmured.
    One of the ministers shook his head. 'And in the Cathedral itself.'
    'Most cruel anywhere,' replied Captain Foxe. But Robert knew that he too would be feeling the shock of sacrilege, for he loved the Cathedral with a deep and secret passion, despite what he had often affirmed - that all places must be equally holy before God. After a long while staring at what lay before him, he rose to his feet. 'And you found her?' he asked, addressing the minister who had spoken before.
    'Not more than half an hour ago. Naturally, I sent for you at once.'
    'And before that, do we know when anyone was last about here?'
    ' I was, an hour ago,' said the second minister. ' I was lighting the candles ...'
    'Good,' said Captain Foxe, interrupting him. 'So we can be certain that the body was deposited during the half hour after that.' 'Deposited?'
    'Yes,' said Captain Foxe shortly. 'These wounds' - he crouched down again - 'they are not fresh. She was not killed here. Feel her. She has been dead these several hours now.'
    'Then you think . . . but ... oh no. Oh no.' The minister wiped his brow with his sleeve. 'What is happening, Commissioner?' he whispered. 'If the poor soul was not killed in the Lady Chapel - then why was she brought here? What does it mean?'
    'That,' said Captain Foxe slowly, 'is what we need to find out.'
    'Do you think ...?' Again, the minister's voice trailed away. He swallowed. 'Could this be . . .?'
    'Sorcery.' His companion completed his question, then just as decisively answered it. 'There can be no doubt about it. To mutilate a body - any body - but especially one such as this - it is sorcerer's work. See! What can these wounds be, but the glutting of the thirst of malignant spirits? Oh, dread - oh, mighty dread! The Evil One is abroad in the Cathedral tonight. . .'
    'No!' Captain Foxe only rarely raised his voice, and the two ministers must have known of his reputation for calmness, for they both stared at him in the utmost surprise. 'No,' Captain Foxe repeated, less vehemently now. 'Please' - he address ed his appeal to both men - 'we cannot allow talk of this kind to go beyond these walls.'
    The minister he had interrupted began to frown, and Captain Foxe lowered his voice still more. 'You know,' he whispered urgently, 'how dangerous a fear of the black arts can be. It unsettles the multitudes, who in their superstition and cruelty will always seek to find witches on which to blame their own sense of sin. For it is rarely, if ever, the true sorcerers who are burned, but only poor old women who are guilty of nothing, perhaps, beyond seeming a little crazed in their wits.' He bowed to the first minister. ' I know, sir, that you agree with me on this matter, for we have discussed it before.'
    The minister glanced at his colleague, then inclined his head. 'It is true,' he acknowledged, 'that I dread the effect of the news of this crime.'
    'But you would not deny,' exclaimed the second minister indignantly, 'that this must indeed be the work of a sorcerer, for who but the Evil One could inspire such a work of horror - such an abomination - as this?'
    ' I would not deny it, sir,' agreed Captain Foxe. 'Indeed, it appears exceedingly probable. And yet that is my very point, for so hellish, so brazen is the crime that I would not see lonely old women being harried for the fault, when our adversary is clearly a man of deadly cunning and skill.'
    'You said a man,' asked the first minister. 'You have certain proof of this?'
    ' I do, sir.'
    'Then this is not the first such murder you have come across? There has been a previous one?'
    Captain Foxe's rugged, handsome face, which could seem almost simple to those who did not know him well, appeared suddenly drained and impenetrable. ' I woul d like to ask you first,' he said