many of them, but my wife needs me right now, and I'm not wasting another minute here. When I got time I'll come back and you and I can talk this out, Your Honor, because I think you're an honorable man. But for the present, I've got somewhere else to be."
Alvin started toward the door at the back of the court.
Quill jumped to his feet and tried to stop him. His hands slid off Alvin as if he'd been greased. "Stop him!" Quill cried. "Don't let him go!"
"Bailiff," said John. "Mr. Smith seems to be escaping."
Alvin turned around and faced the judge. "Your Honor, I thought this wasn't my trial. I thought this was a hearing on a motion. You don't need me here."
Verily stood up. "Alvin, what about Purity?"
"She ain't going to hang," said Alvin. "By the time you're through, she'll probably be Queen of England."
"Wait just a minute, Alvin," Verily said. He turned to face John Adams. "Your Honor, I ask the court to release my client on his own recognizance, with his promise to appear in court in the morning."
John understood what he was asking, and decided to grant it. The escape would be turned into a legal release. "The defendant's presence not being necessary at this hearing, and with proof positive that the defendant's compliance with his imprisonment up to this point has been entirely voluntary, the court deems him worthy of our trust. Released on his own recognizance, to appear in court at ten in the morning tomorrow."
"Thank you, Your Honor," said Alvin.
"An outrage!" cried Quill.
"Sit down, Mr. Quill," said John Adams. "I'm ready to rule on the motion."
Quill slowly sat down as the door closed behind Alvin Smith.
"Your Honor," said Verily Cooper. "I must apologize for my client's behavior."
"Sit down, Mr. Cooper," said John. "I have my rulings. Mr. Smith's point was well taken. It is not the place of the court to destroy the law in order to achieve justice. Therefore both motions are denied."
Quill flung his arms out wide. "Praise God!"
"Not so fast, Mr. Quill," said John. "This hearing is not over."
"But you've ruled."
"During the process of this hearing, I have heard substantial evidence of misconduct by those officers called interrogators or witchers. The appointment of these witchers is in the hands of the ecclesiastical authorities, who have delegated that responsibility to an examining board of experts on witchery, who are responsible for making sure that witchers are fully trained. However, the actual license to interrogate and serve as an officer of the court is issued by the governor upon a swearing-in by a judge. This license is required for an interrogator to have standing in a civil court and call a witch trial. The licenses of all witchers fall under the law that governs the licensing of all government officials not specified in any particular act. Under that law, your license can be suspended upon a finding by a judicial officer of the level of magistrate or higher that you have used your office against the interests of the people of the commonwealth. I so find. Mr. Quill, I hereby declare your license and the license of all other interrogators in the commonwealth of Massachusetts and in the judicial circuit of New England to be suspended."
"But you can't - you - "
"Furthermore, I declare all interrogations made under these licenses to be suspended as well. I order that no judicial proceeding may continue until and unless hearings are held that substantiate the evidence under the normal rules of evidence in the civil courts, which are the courts that have jurisdiction over licensing. If you or any other witchcraft interrogator cannot demonstrate that the evidence you have given in court meets the standard of evidence in the civil courts, the suspension of your license may not be lifted. And as long as your license is suspended, no officer of the law in New England is permitted to arrest, imprison, confine, arraign, or try any person on the orders of an interrogator; and since the law requires that a witcher be the prosecutor at any witch trial in New England, I order that no witch trial may be held in New England until and unless an interrogator in possession of a valid license is available to prosecute."
The words flowed out of John like water from a spring. He felt as though he were singing. Alvin Smith's point had been well taken. But in the moment when he realized that, for honor's sake,