Today in Salem: How is it possible for a four-year-old girl to be a witch? The judges are intent on finding out, and will question little Dorcas Good as soon as they’re done with the elderly and beloved Rebecca Nurse.
Two days ago, Rebecca was sick in bed when kindly friends told her about the accusations. She could hardly speak, she was so astonished. Now she is standing in front of the normally cruel Judge Hathorne, who is speaking kindly to her. No one wants her to be guilty, he says, but if she is, then now is the time to confess. But Rebecca, in the soft voice of an elderly woman, says that she’s innocent before God. Over and over the judge questions her, but she doesn’t waver. “I am as clear as the child unborn,” she says.
The afflicted girls are shaking and suffering so badly, though, that some in the crowd start to cry. Soon the girls are shrieking so loudly that Rev Parris, appointed to take notes, gives up trying. Pandemonium breaks loose, and ends with the constable holding Rebecca’s head firmly between his hands, forcing her to look forward.
The judge sits back and narrows his eyes. It’s odd, he thinks, that Rebecca herself isn’t crying, even if it’s just from sympathy. He leans back in and asks Rebecca if the girls are genuinely suffering. But Rebecca is hard of hearing, and with the constable holding her head in place, she can’t lean in or cock her head. She can’t hear him, so she doesn’t answer. Her silence, with the girls’ torments, are enough. Beloved or not, Rebecca Nurse is sent to jail.
The constable holds little Dorcas Good’s hand and leads her to stand in front of the judges. Dorcas’s mother, the beggar Sarah Good, has been in jail for three weeks, but Dorcas is still hale and hearty.
The constable takes no chances and holds Dorcas’s head still, just as he’d held Rebecca’s. But the afflicted girls claim that Dorcas’s specter is biting them, and hold out their arms to show small bite marks. With almost no questioning, Dorcas is sent to stay with the Salem jail keeper.
Tomorrow in Salem: The harsh John Proctor and the Devil’s pitchfork