Ebenezer watched with interest as she faltered to a stop, pleading and swearing that she was no witch. Convicting her of such a crime would not take much, he knew, as he had been witness to several interrogations, hearings and trials during his time in Europe. The Germanies, especially, had been the most... instructive. Here in the colonies and far from true civilization, it would take even less to have her hanged. The idea of seeing a rope about her slender neck left him... uneasy.

"Not a witch, you say? That is a statement the congregation might find difficult to accept, mistress." He stood now and eased himself out into the clearing nonchalantly, hands behind his back and chin held just a touch high as though pondering the sky overhead. "You have, intentionally or no, lured a young preacher from his home in the middle of the night. You then, in your bedclothes no less, proceeded to dance wantonly about beneath a full moon before him, pausing only to speak with a forest creature in such a manner as to indicate that an actual conversation was taking place." Ebenezer spread his hands outwards to indicate his own helplessness at seeing the situation any other way as he lowered his gaze towards where she half cowered. "Even in the finest cities of Europe, it would be hard not to find you guilty of witchcraft based on just that sole testament of a learned man."

Finding a convenient rock at hand, he sat himself upon it in a relaxed manner. "However that may be, I am, to my grief, a learned man. I do not believe you a witch, only a woman falling to far more mortal temptations than to actual evil. A lesser sentence, in most cases. Banishment, at worst. Although such an exile would no doubt prove fatal as there are few places within walking distance that might provide you with any succor, and the local natives have little use for another mouth to feed."

He paused to rub at his chin in consideration of her plight. "So what to do with you then? Do you propose a bargain, perhaps, something of yours in exchange for my silence?" He cocked an eyebrow as another thought came to him, a strange phrasing of her words that seemed odd. "And when you decry 'the judge or his son', why does it sound you fear more the latter than the former? I would think the father the more dangerous to you."