Some people said that Mistress Hibbins was more than a little mad; others said she was truly a friend of the Devil. Mad, evil, a friend of the Devil, or all three, no one knows, but a few years later she was judged to be a witch and was killed on the scaffold.
‘No, thank you!’ Hester called back to her, with a smile. ‘If they ever took Pearl away from me, I would go with you and sign my name in the Devil’s book, even in blood! But little Pearl is still with me, and so I must stay at home and watch over her.’