Today in Salem: It’s the Sabbath, and the meeting house is humid with the prayers of so many worshipers. The afflicted girls, who always sit together at the front of the women’s section, are sliding on their bench to fill the gap left by the missing Susannah Sheldon.

Two days ago neighbors had found her with her hands tied tightly with rope. Has something else happened to her? That night they find her in a barn, with her head stuck behind a chest and her hands tied so tightly with a wheel band that they have to cut it to free her.

She sits up and collapses against the wall. Sarah Good, she chokes. Sarah Good did this. The men aren’t surprised. The beggar Sarah Good is coming to trial in two days. Her specter – and the Devil – must be furious.

Tomorrow in Salem: GUILTY AND SENTENCED: the beggar Sarah Good