Dancing in the Palm of His Hand Read Online Free PDF

Rosen, Your Grace.”
    â€œ
Danke
, Herr Hampelmann. These people can – and will – be arrested.”
    â€œBut Frau Basser insisted that they are innocent,” said the priest. “And I believe her. Where is the evidence that any crime has been committed? Herr Silberhans is a student of mine. A fine young man. There are no
indicia
of witchcraft for him.”
    â€œI beg to differ,” said Hampelmann. “It is widely rumoured that Christoph Silberhans has expressed open scepticism about the way we conduct the hearings. Some of his fellow students even came to the
Malefizamt
to report that Silberhans is a defender of witches.”
    â€œI teach my students to examine the law,” said Father Herzeim. “It is not enough merely to learn it. Naturally there are questions. Neither questions, nor hearsay, constitute evidence.”
    The Prince-Bishop pointed a finger at the priest. “Some lawsare too important to be questioned. Do not forget the rule of obedience.”
    Father Herzeim took a deep breath. “What then of Frau Rosen? She is known as an honest and pious woman, of no ill repute.”
    â€œNo ill repute?” laughed Hampelmann. “As I recall, and do correct me if I am mistaken, Herr Lutz, she and her husband were nearly fined for having a child too soon after their wedding. They would have been fined had the midwife not testified before the Lower City Council that the child was born early. A claim I do not believe. The girl was born crippled, I might add. Moreover, it is widely known that Frau Rosen’s husband had to discipline her often, and severely.”
    Hands clasped behind his back, Hampelmann walked toward the window. He’d known Eva Rosen years ago, known her quite well in fact, when she was still Eva Hirsch and worked as a maidservant in his father’s household. The woman was beautiful and so seductive that it was a real possibility she was a witch. Certainly worth investigating. It made the hair stand up on the back of his neck to think that there might have been a witch working in the Hampelmann household and that he’d nearly been fooled by her charms.
    He pivoted slowly. “About three years ago, Herr Rosen died suddenly, mysteriously, leaving a trade corporation membership for his widow to offer to a new husband. Yet Frau Rosen has chosen not to remarry, though I understand she’s quite a handsome woman.”
    â€œIt’s hardly a sin, or an indication of witchcraft, to remain unmarried,” said Father Herzeim. “The Church commends it, in fact. First Corinthians, chapter 7 :
But I say to the unmarried, and to the widows: It is good for them if they so continue
.”
    â€œHave you forgotten, Father, how the verse ends?” Hampelmann did not wait for an answer. “
But if they do not
contain themselves, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to be burnt
. Frau Rosen is an experienced woman. I seriously doubt that she has
contained herself
.”
    Hampelmann smoothed his beard. “God has placed woman under man’s authority, and yet there’s Frau Rosen, on her own, subject to the authority of no man, running the bakery with only journeymen. No master. The bakery is losing money and she’s not even chosen a legal guardian to manage her financial affairs. Though the Lower City Council has recommended it. Three times. Is it not true, Herr Lutz, that the master bakers have complained to the council about Frau Rosen?”
    Lutz hovered near the door, hand on the latch. Even with his blurred eyesight, Hampelmann could see that the councilman’s white hair and beard needed trimming, his soiled hose drooped at the knees, his white collar was rumpled, and there were copper buttons missing from his doublet where it stretched over his protruding belly. Lutz’s slovenliness and corpulence disgusted Hampelmann. The man was at least fifty, a lawyer and a Würzburg councilman. One would