Page 30 - The Devil's Arsonist

Chapter 13

The Betrayal of a Martyr

St. Mary, Aldham, Suffolk, England

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Thursday Morning, 8 December 1994, Burwell, Cambridgeshire
My beloved did this morn, dictate what we must do this day. For she believed that what took
place would begin to remove any shadow of doubt as to my innocence and dispel any thought
that an ancient evil once dwelt within my soul; one that has plagued the many lives I lived as
others; as William Gilderiche of Pecheys, Sir John Sulyard of Wetherden Hall, Arthur
Berners of Pecheys, James Brinley of Aldgate and Jack Lauraine of Texas; and all the others
whose names are unknown to me. To achieve this laudable aim, I must first return to Burwell,
where many a godly soul did perish at hands that I once believed were my own; burnt beyond
recognition in a lowly barn, where a puppet master performed his show. My guilt was
presumed through the eyes of others and not my own; only the Rev. Edmundson and
Elisabeth Shepheard did condemn me, so my heart believed. Yet when I lived as the
woodturner James Brinley, no vision was seen by me to show my guilt. Now on this day I
accompanied by Elisabeth and Snuggles, would seek out such a vision, at the spot where this
barn once stood; in the hope that I would at last find solace in the truth of my innocence.

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