By: Sue
Everywhere Increase goes he sees signs of witches. He’s come to see what his son Cotton has accomplished, and he stays for the same reason. Hale isn’t comfortable with him in town, but Mary knows there’s no way to be rid of him yet. Increase asks Mary how George is faring, and promises her to visit him again soon, to raise his spirits. Mary puts on a pleasant front, telling him that George would love it.
Cotton and Gloriana are having sweaty naked time, and as it concludes, Gloriana spots his father heading their way. Increase is heading directly for the whore house, and as he ascends the steps there is no time to get out. Gloriana hides Cotton beneath her bed, and he worries over his bible. She looks for it, but Increase and the Selectmen arrive before she spots it. Her quick words makes him leave with little issue, and she even lies that the bible is hers. He feels a comingling of sin and sorcery in the house. He heads in to see Mab, and she asks him his pleasure, which does not please him. She believes that there is nothing to find, but it is his job to find signs of witchcraft. He finds some Boris root, which Mab claims to not know anything about. As Mary and Hale watch, Increase discovers a hidden compartment in her fireplace. Inside there are casting stones. They have another witch on their hands.
Hale is upset over Increase’s findings, it is exactly what he feared. Although Mary is not panicking like he is, it does not mean she isn’t concerned. Hale is worried over who Mab will point to as an accomplice. Tituba points that Mab has always been a faithful member, and there is no reason to think that she would no longer be. She was stupid to have things so easily found and Mary worries what will happen when Increase visits George again. She must get him out of Salem.
John notices that Cotton is drinking early, but Cotton insists that if he knew his father, he would be surprised he had waited so long. It’s not long before John gets to meet Increase in the flesh. He berates his son for being in the tavern, and praises John for his military service. The town of Salem is far worse than he thought, and Increase wants his son to address the people, to show them the face of sin. He hands his son back his bible.
Mary prepares to send George to Boston. She tells Isaac that his condition is worsening and it is his only hope. Isaac, though he hates George, will take good care of him, and promises that they will be in Boston by daybreak. Tituba and John both watch George’s leaving for different reasons.
Hale pays Mab a visit. She thinks that he is there to kill her, but he is not. They have decided that she could live. She plans to give the Selectmen nothing, but Hale knows the torture that lies ahead, and that they will break her, but he plans a distraction at the last moment. Ann questions where her father goes late at night as he returns home. Her mother told her that she should be grateful for what he does for her, but she can’t help but know. Hale tells her that he had town business. She asks if he believes the woman in jail is truly a witch, she followed him. Hale is not pleased by her actions, but tells her that he does not think her a witch but instead a sad and lonely woman. Ann is pleased with his answer.
Mab is dunked beneath the water. Increase brings her up, asking her for names of other witches. She will not give up any other names. He dunks her longer this time, she nearly drowns before he brings her back up. She gives no names, and he threatens to put her back under again and drown her this time. Before she is plunged beneath the water, she stops them, and calls out that Gloriana is a witch. Cotton calls a stop to this spectacle, knowing that Gloriana is no witch. His father strikes him down for defending the whore, and has Gloriana taken away even as she shouts his name.
Isaac rides with George in the carriage. George works to remove the toad, and Isaac mistakens his odd breathing for plain breathing issues. He takes his eyes off the horses, to coax George into relaxing, into breathing slowly when the carriage hits a log in the road, throwing Isaac from his seat, and tipping the carriage over. George is injured but alive. He slashes open his belly with a piece of the carriage, and pries out the toad.
Cotton goes to his father pleading that he has no evidence. His only evidence is the confession of a witch. Increase wonders if Cotton would take issue for everyone or just the whore. Cotton maintains that he knows the town and that Gloriana is no witch. Increase tells Cotton, that he will assist in conducting the search of Gloriana’s body for signs that she is a witch.
John takes Mary roughly into his house, and kisses her. She pushes him away. She brings up the other night, telling him that though she does not regret it, it can never happen again. John points that she has a very sick husband, but though he was taken to hospital recently, she knows he would never do her the favor of dying for her. Everyone in Salem has secrets, but Mary doesn’t wish to have another.
The Selectmen hold Gloriana down and Cotton is forced to expose Gloriana bit by bit for his father. Each section shows that there is no sign. When it comes to her upper torso, Cotton becomes angered, but she has no marks. Cotton thinks that is the truth should set her free, but Increase only says that he will testify to her lack of marks at her trial. Gloriana will stand trial with the Selectmen as her judges, Cotton is sure how they will vote.
Ann brings up at the dinner table that there has been yet another witch accused. She wonders if her father enjoys the attention since he will not speak out to stop it. Ann makes excuses to leave the table and walks away.
John asks Cotton why his father hates him, because of what he is and what he is not. He appealed to his father for not. Cotton realizes that John is everything that Increase ever wanted him to be, but John does not wish to prostrate at another puritan’s feet. Cotton understands his reasons, and though he has been in Salem for a short time, he has made one real friend John. He asks him as a friend to talk to his father on Gloriana’s behalf.
Isaac awakens to find the carriage on its side, and only a trail of George’s blood. He looks in the woods for Isaac, and George calls out for him. Isaac is taken back with the fact that George can suddenly speak, and that he is bleeding. George asks him to go back to Salem, to get supplies and someone to administer aid. Isaac asks if he remembers the day that he marked him as the fornicator. George admits that Isaac could get his revenge easily by letting him bleed out, and that he has regretted his branding. He offers Isaac gold for his help, and to not bring his wife, but Increase instead. Isaac makes a mad dash to save him. Petrus spies Isaac running though the woods.
John pays Increase a visit, and he says no. John hasn’t asked a question yet, but Increase knows that Cotton has asked him to speak to him about Gloriana. Increase will testify at her trial, and he not even he thinks that Gloriana is a witch, neither does John. He knows that Gloriana has bewitched his son though. John tells him a little story about his own father. He was never really happy with his own choices, John’s father wished for him to study scripture, but that is not the path that John chose. Although they disagreed about a great many things, he wanted John to be happy.
Isaac finds John. He spirits him away so he can tell him about George, how George asked him to get Increase, how he wanted to keep Mary from knowing anything. John advises to let him die, to do nothing. Isaac isn’t so sure over that decision. John thinks that George deserves nothing less. Isaac knows that John loves Mary, feels that to leave him to die is murder. John insists to do nothing.
Increase comes to collect Gloriana late in the evening. He brings her before the people, tells them that the witch’s confession was false. She is no witch, but she is no innocence either. He decrees that she is to banished. He warns Gloriana that if she is to ever return then she will be hung. Cotton goes to Gloriana as she is taken away, and apologizes. She did nothing wrong except to love him. Increase announces that neither sin nor sinner have any place in Salem.
George’s toad sits on Mary’s bedside table. When she awakens she spots it, and she is not happy. She isn’t sure how he removed the familiar from his body, and she worries over who he is blabbing to. Tituba tells her to calm herself so that they can use the familiar to find the one they seek. Tituba transforms him, and he will lead her to George. They must work quickly or they will both burn.
Cotton is not pleased with his father’s actions, and Increase believes that he is doing what needs to be done to make Cotton worthy of the Mather name. Cotton loved her. Increase tells him not to say that, and tells him that one day when he is governor of the land he will thank him for removing temptation from his path. Cotton doesn’t look so thankful. Increase heads down to the tavern for some tea, and spots Isaac. He asks Isaac about his quick journey to Boston and back, about his prognosis. Isaac cannot answer the questions,a nd when Increase hold him under his stare, Isaac tells him all. Increase sets out with a search party to find George.
Tituba follows the familiar looking for George too, but the horsemen are close.
Mab chooses to take the black pill, to put an end to her misery. Death takes her quickly.
Increase and his men find the carriage without issue. George is not inside, but Increase begins to look for him. Petrus comes to George’s aid. He spotted him an hour ago, and has brought some items to ease his suffering. George hopes that help is on the way, but Petrus talks him into taking his concoction. He was given some kind of poison. Tituba plans to bring George to Petrus’s shack. Petrus slinks off as the men approach, but
Ann asks John if he remembers the day in the graveyard when he implied that her father was not whom he seemed. She asks him to invite her inside and she will tell him why she agrees.
Tituba returns and she is not pleased. Mary asks if she was able to find George, she was but that is not the problem. He is now under the care of Increase, and when he awakens he will be lucid, and they will be screwed.
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