"He is looking at you, but his spectre has its back towards you." There was quite a roar of applause through the crowded house at such an exposure of the old Captain's trickery.

He was very cunning to be sure; but the "afflicted" girls could see through his knavery.
"Make him touch the poor girls," said the Reverend Master Noyes.

For it was the accepted theory that by doing this, the witch, in spite of himself, reabsorbed into his own body the devilish energy that had gone out of him, and the afflicted were healed.

This was repeatedly done through the progress of these examinations and the after trials; and was always found to be successful, both as a cure of the sufferers, and an undeniable proof that the person accused was really a witch.
In this case the "afflicted" girls were brought up to Captain Alden, one after the other and upon his being made to touch them with his hand, they invariably drew a deep breath of relief, and said they felt entirely well again.
"You see Captain Alden," said Squire Gedney solemnly, "none of the tests fail in your case.

If there were only one proof, we might doubt; but as the Scripture says, by the mouths of two or three witnesses shall the truth be established.