The Heretic's Daughter

At the end of July, Tom and Sarah are working in the hayloft of the barn when they notice a rabid stray dog approaching. Hannah is down below, directly in line with the animal if it should choose to attack. Sarah wants to retrieve the flintlock, but there isn’t time. Thinking quickly, Tom takes some pebbles from his pocket and throws them past the dog, drawing its attention away from the children. Afterward, he reminds Sarah that he isn’t a weakling but can also help take care of the family. He then follows the dog and shoots it. At his words, Sarah thinks, “There was a shifting away of something weighty and grasping about my shoulders” (237).

By the beginning of August, Martha’s sentence is handed down: She’s scheduled to be hanged on the 19th. By the 10th, Sarah and Tom are arrested and taken in for questioning. They appear before nine judges and the girls who accuse them of witchcraft: “I saw a group of young women and girls standing in tortured agony, their hands clapped over their mouths as if they were nailed there, cawing and moaning and straining to speak through their fingers” (241).

When questioned, Sarah and Tom do as their mother instructed.