Children of Salem

“Then perhaps they did get my appeals. I’d tried to see them all in turn while in Boston, but was told one after the other was gone. I’d assumed they were simply shunning me like Mather. Well, this is wonderful news! These are men of learning. They’ll put a stop to this nonsense.”

“They’ve done nothing so far.”

“It may take time, but these are intelligent men—Harvard graduates all.”

Francis remained skeptical. “Intelligence is no guarantee of integrity, Jeremy.”

“What’re you saying?”

“Saying that my wife’s arrest warrant came a day after their arrival.”

“Their names on the warrant?” Jeremy stared into the old man’s eyes. “Tell me, were their names on—”

“Like you said, they are smart fellows, so no, they do not attach their names to the warrants.”

“They leave it to Corwin and Hathorne, eh?”

“They do. They’re clever men.”

Jeremy tried to absorb this veiled accusation coming from Francis Nurse. “But Francis, surely the Boston judges did not come here to see Mother Nurse placed in shackles.” Jeremy did not believe them capable of this.”

“They have their own motives. Say they are here to establish order, but they’ve only made things worse.”

“How are you so sure?”

“They’re suing for our property as well.”

“What?” Serena shouted. “They’re not even concealing their motives?”

“They’re saying the original deed was in Rebecca’s hands, which is true. It’d been a land grant given her father, Towne, divided among his three daughters, Rebecca the eldest. When we married, Rebecca’s third share of the deed was changed over in my name.”

Jeremy’s eyes had widened at this, his grimace made of anger and confusion.

“Trying to take our land, just as Jeremy predicted,” said Serena.

“They want the entire place, all three shares,” said Jeremy, “which means they will also be coming for your aunts, Serena.”

“Everything we’ve built.” She dropped her gaze and fought back more tears.

“Tell me, Mr. Nurse, sir, were the Boston justices’ names on the suit?”

“No, no! As I’ve said, they’re not fools.”

“Then how do you know they’re behind this?” pressed Jeremy, hoping against hope that Francis was wrong about the justices of the highest court in the land.

“I’ve talked to Higginson and Hale, who both assure me that the judges—all of them—have sided with Parris.”

“All this effected in a matter of days.”

“In our absence,” lamented Serena.

“I can hardly believe it.”

“And why not, Jeremy?” Serena scolded him.

Francis put up a hand to the young ones. “Jeremy, they’re out to supplant the issue of Andros with the frightful issue of—”

“Witchcraft, of course.”

“There is an election coming on, and they are political animals, whatever else they might be called.”

Jeremy swallowed hard as if it hurt to do so. “I should’ve seen this coming.”

“Why? No one else did. Williard passed me the suit papers on the heels of the warrant for Rebecca’s arrest. Their names aren’t on it, no, but their stamp of approval certainly is. They mean to call it Towne land by her being a Towne, and that it’s a disgrace that a government granted land parcel has fallen into the hands of a so-called witch and an old seaman.”

“A scheme that gets Parris and Putnam what they want,” sputtered Serena, her anger rising.

“Access to our acres, the rivers, the timber.” Francis sighed heavily. “I’d give it all for Rebecca, all of it.”

“Have we any other choice, Father? No!”

Jeremy nodded. “They also mean to give the villagers the blood of witches.’

“The land,” muttered Francis. “What they’ve squabbled about since the day I married Rebecca.”

Jeremiah shook his head in disbelief, even as he asked himself, What’s not to believe? “What plans have you? Any?”

“John Proctor’s wife’s been arrested too, and John’s ranted and publicly attacked the ministers and magistrates for their—how’d he say it? Idiocy. I’ve had to calm John as there’s a good chance he could be arrested next, and I need him beside me.”

“Proctor runs a lumber mill, right?”

“He does, and it’s as attractive as Corey’s grain mill, and like I said, Mrs. Corey’s been jailed as a witch, made to implicate her husband, and he is on the run.”

“I begin to see the pattern.”

“Good! But you and I are in the minority. Others see it as God’s will be done at last. Those who’ve long been our enemies in that cursed village yonder!” His hand flew up, a flourish in the general direction of the village.

Jeremy fingered his empty cup. “So what are you doing next, sir?”

“Every legal means I have, I am taking. I’ve a petition got up, and many have willingly signed, giving witness to Rebecca’s goodness, her life, and devotion to God.”

“Has it had any effect?”

“None, but I keep trying to get it into Stoughton’s hands.”

“I see. But lately that has become a near impossible task. I still have that copy of Parris sermon on me.”

“Can’t get it past Hathorne. He and Corwin’ve become the front men here for people like myself who might be an annoyance.”

“So, you’ve joined me as an annoyance?”

“We’re in the minority, Jeremy,” he repeated. “And it is an extreme minority, growing smaller each day.”

“Fear will do that to people,” said Serena. “Where do we go to get Mother back? What do we need to sign?”

“Wish it were that easy, my girl.”

“We must regain Mother at any cost!”

“Don’t you hear me, child? Your mother will not hear of being traded for a single acre!”

“You are the head of the household, the man here, Father, and you have a duty to override her wishes!” The argument had grown heated.

“So, what would you have me do? Break my promises to her? It’s a mistake, your coming back here, you two! You make me more vulnerable than ever. Jeremy, you must please take Serena as far from Salem as you possibly can.”

“Take Serena away from here?” She snapped at her father. “I am not some bundle of hay to be carted off at the first sign of trouble. No, we’re here to help, not to run!”

Serena marched noisily about the porch, collecting their empty ale cups, and she put one foot indoors, going to refills when she stopped in the doorway, “What kind of daughter do you think you raised?”

“It’s what your mother wants—her final wish of us, she calls it; it’s why she sent you to Boston in the first place.”

“I’m here to fight for her,” said Jeremy.

“And so am I,” added Serena. “To get her out of that hole they’ve thrown her into, Father!”

“The two of you will be sucked into this and arrested, and where will that leave any of us!”

“Not if we work cautiously,” countered Jeremy.

“Caution does no good against the kind of insanity in the village.”

Jeremy thought of the scene in the apothecary where Mary Wolcott had ‘danced’ with the devil. “I suspect you’re right, but we can’t just walk away from this, not now, not with Mother Nurse’s life in the balance.”

“Sign the petition and go. It’s all you can accomplish.”

“I intend to talk to the justices from Boston,” countered Jeremy, and to locate Cotton Mather if he is indeed