Hester

Isobel makes another pessary to prevent pregnancy, pleased at the idea of “a small garden inside [her]” (243). Nat continues to visit regularly, and they continue to read The Fair Maid of Perth. When he sees a pair of finished gloves, he insists on a pair for himself, but Isobel says he must buy them from Mrs. Adams, lest she lose her job. She makes a pair with a leopard, a hawthorn, and a small scarlet “A.” Nat claims “[he] must have them. [He] must have [her] magic” (244), but she reminds him to purchase them from Mrs. Adams. Isobel applies a special wash to her hair to make it shiny, and at the shop, Abigail suspects she’s being courted. Isobel redirects the conversation to Abigail’s beau. The two plan their dresses for the upcoming banquet, Isobel dreaming of her triumph when everyone sees her fine embroidery.

On one of their nights together, Nat confesses to a habit of covering his face and imagining himself “imprisoned.” Isobel wishes he would cease his fixation on the past but does not say so. He places a handkerchief over her eyes and tells her to use her other senses, which leads to sex, during which he bites her lip until it bleeds. Afterwards, Nat asks about her “magical” work, which she credits to her colors. Isobel explains her colors for the first time in her life, and Nat writes a note when she mentions her scarlet “A’s.” When she says her mother considered the colors a curse, he counters that they are a gift, too, which makes her compare her synesthesia to their opposite histories. She wonders if they can heal each other.

Nat describes his developing idea for a story about a girl who cares for a poisonous plant, weighing different tragic endings. Isobel protests she doesn’t want to read tragic stories of love, which leads him to say she doesn’t understand literature. She doesn’t wish to fight, so she hides her hurt. She asks Nat what will happen if Edward returns, and he asserts he will “love [her] from afar as [he] always [has]” (252), having fallen in love at first sight. He asks about the witch sewn into Isobel’s cloak, and she tells him of Isobel Gowdie. He considers this a sign that he was fated to find her, which she no longer finds flattering, but self-absorbed. She asks what will happen if Edward doesn’t return, but Nat dismisses this concern. Isobel worries that Nat only wants her because their affair is forbidden, and thus a thrill. She also worries she is pregnant. 

An elderly Isobel Gowdie holds her granddaughter, also named Isobel. She reflects on the humans and faeries who helped her live to see this moment.

In late June, Isobel plans to tell Nat that Edward didn’t board Darling’s ship in Jamaica and that she missed her period. She meets him for a picnic in the woods. He writes a story about a mushroom-shaped birthmark on the hand of a child born out of wedlock. Isobel asks if the story will have a happy ending, but Nat counters that “the sin had to be paid for, and so it would be” (258). He insists on teaching her to swim. She sees seals and thinks of the Scottish myth of selkies. Nat asks Isobel for her opinion on Salem, and she confesses that she would like to go to Maine with him. He hesitantly agrees, describing Maine as a place without the “terrible history” of Salem, though he seems surprised when she links this history to slavery. She is uneasy when he dismisses the immorality of slavery. As the pair walk back to town, Zeke approaches; Nat hides in the woods. Zeke claims he is going to tend to his maple trees, but Isobel is suspicious; after Zeke departs, Nat confirms summer is the wrong time to work at a sugar house. Isobel confesses she loves Nat, then flees before he can respond.

Nell arrives to collect Charlotte’s trousseau, commenting that Isobel looks sickly. She pays Isobel handsomely, per Mrs. Silas’s instruction, and Isobel takes the money, despite her misgivings about the Silases’ history as enslavers. Nell confides her plan to elope with her beau, whose mother disapproves of her, a Catholic. Isobel has not seen Nat for days. Zeke arrives to take Nell back to town, and he is less friendly than usual, causing Isobel to wonder if he saw her with Nat.

Isobel continues to wait for Nat, and her stitching becomes joyless. On Independence Day, Salem celebrates. Isobel hears strangers argue the ethics of returning people who have escaped slavery “back south where they belong” (269). A townsperson comments that Darling’s ship is due back in Salem soon. Isobel feels dazed and returns home to find Mercy at the well. Mercy asks who the “freedom” of the holiday is for, and Isobel sees the word “freedom” in orange and yellow. Later, hiding her red hair to remain anonymous, she searches for Nat, but doesn’t see him. She feels ill but continues about her usual work. Isobel delivers a dozen pairs of gloves to Mrs. Adams. She spots Nat and follows him, as he travels to a cemetery. There, he rips a handful of papers. Isobel suddenly identifies with the tragic women in Nat’s stories. 

Elizabeth Manning Hathorne watches her husband prepare for a sea journey that he promised will make them rich. She once wanted to be a poet, but now wishes for material things. Her husband dies at sea and she retreats into grief, watching her son, Nathaniel (Nat), become a poet himself.

Two days later, Isobel attends Charlotte’s wedding. Nat is there, but he doesn’t look her way. She follows the bridal procession back to the Silases’ house and encounters Nell, now married. On her way home, Isobel sees an unfamiliar man as well as Zeke watching him angrily, realizing the man is a slave catcher. Widow Higgins startles her and warns her to stay away from Nat, asserting “there is cruelty in his family” (278). She promises her “infatuation” will remain a secret and that Edward will return soon.

Isobel sews one of her buttons to a scrap of cloth from Nat’s torn coat and leaves it at his bolder. He arrives a few hours later, leading her to wonder if she summoned him. He is leaving for New Haven the next day, and will be gone for at least three weeks. Isobel says Edward is unlikely to be on Darling’s ship, and Nat is angry that she didn’t tell him sooner. He assumes Edward absconded with the investments he took for his “elixir.” Isobel worries that these investors will demand repayment from her. She offers to go to Philadelphia with Nat, but he refuses, saying his name is the only thing of value he possesses. When she reveals her pregnancy, he suddenly accuses her of bewitching him with the “scarlet letters” sewn in his clothes. He insists Isobel cannot be pregnant yet frames the pregnancy as what keeps them apart.

Margaret MacAllister teaches her five-year-old daughter, Isobel, to embroider and remembers learning to stitch at a similar age, taught by her Aunt Eilidh. Eilidh sang of colors as she stitched, which resulted in her being institutionalized—which causes Margaret to fear the sight of Isobel’s own multicolored letters.

Isobel mashes pennyroyal to brew an abortifacient. Nat’s words muddle with her fears. She visits an apothecary to get other ingredients for her abortifacient, avoiding questions about Edward’s investments and return. Isobel fears the apothecary will recognize her ingredients’ purpose, leading to gossip about her pregnancy. She drinks the bitter brew of herbs at home and hallucinates, coming to when Mercy bangs on her door, reporting Darling has arrived in Salem and is seeking her. Mercy recognizes Isobel’s tincture and chides her for almost harming herself. She brings her another brew to drink, which makes Isobel throw up the harmful tonic.

When Isobel fully wakes, Mercy advises her to stay strong even when others fail her. Isobel reveals Nat said she bewitched him, which doesn’t surprise Mercy, who says Nat’s words are “what they say when they want to go free of you or when they’re afraid” (293). Mercy reminds her that Darling is looking for her and reveals Ingo, Darling’s first mate, is her lover. When Mercy slips out of the house to talk to Ingo, Isobel investigates the woman’s stitching, finding the word “FREE” sewn into three shawls. This leads her to suspect that Mercy and Zeke are helping enslaved people escape bondage. She falls asleep again, and when she wakes, Mercy reports Edward did not return and that Darling paid off his debts. Isobel hints at Mercy and Zeke’s actions near the sugar house, but Mercy tells her to forget she knows anything, and urges her to think of her child as hers alone.

Darling visits, and his demeanor reminds Isobel of the hope she felt when she arrived in America. He apologizes for not bringing Edward home, and she apologizes for not revealing her husband’s addiction. He tries to give her Edward’s wages, but she refuses, showing him the gloves she sews to support herself. Isobel lets Darling purchase the leopard pair she intended for Nat. He sails again in two days but will return to see her in August.

Later, Mercy visits, much to Isobel’s gratitude, as she does not wish to be alone. Mercy reveals Darling wore the leopard gloves to a dinner at Hamilton Hall, which causes Isobel to panic. Mercy argues that supporting her child should be her priority, and that sewing will allow her to do so. When Isobel returns to the dress shop, Mrs. Adams is furious, as Salem now knows Isobel is the artist behind the shop’s gloves. She accuses Isobel of having an affair with Darling and warns her that adultery is a crime that warrants exile. Isobel offers to continue making gloves for a fair price, but Mrs. Adams throws her out. 

Isobel laments not hiding her colors. She wavers over attending the Hamilton Hall banquet and thinks she cannot wear her provocative Garden of Eden shawl. A local woman named Ginny arrives at Isobel’s house, inquiring after her stitch work. She explains that local wives look out for each other and often trade goods and services. She trades bread for Isobel’s help sewing her husband a waistcoat for the upcoming banquet. Over the following days, numerous women come asking for help with their sewing projects.

One morning, Nell arrives to report that Charlotte’s child was born. Charlotte, now living in Philadelphia, sends her thanks to Isobel, which inspires Isobel to offer a gown according to Philadelphia society standards. As summer continues, many poor, immigrant, and Black women request her stitch work until she has more food than she can eat. Mercy and Zeke know people in need of extra food, so the three travel to the almshouse in a nearby town, Lynn. Riding with Zeke reminds Isobel of Nat’s dismissal of slavery. She wonders if Nat is cruel, weak, or both.

The squalor of Lynn’s factories makes Isobel fear for her future if she is exiled. She alludes to Zeke that she knows he and Mercy are helping those who escape slavery, which angers Mercy. She insists Isobel doesn’t know what she’s talking about, and that if they are truly friends, she will never mention this again.