The Crucible Page #4

Mr. Hale! Oh.

Oh, good to see you!

Oh, well,

I see you've come well prepared.

This is Thomas Putnam.

How do you do, sir?

Allow me, sir.

This is my wife, Goody Ann.

Will you come to our Ruth? Her soul

seems flown away. Will you come to her?

Aye. I'll come directly.

And you must be Rebecca Nurse...

- and Mr. Nurse.

- You know me?

No, but you look as such a good

soul should.

All of us in Beverly

have heard of your great charities.

There is prodigious danger in seeking

loose spirits.

I fear it.

- Francis.

- Mr. Hale.

I go to God for you, sir.

I hope you do not mean that we go

to Satan here.

I wish I knew.

I hear you be

a sensible man, Mr. Hale.

Hope you'll leave some of it in Salem.

Our child cannot wake, sir.

She lies as though dead.

And this

one cannot bear the Lord's name.

- Aye.

- That's a sure sign of witchcraft afloat.

No, no, Mr. Putnam.

We must not look to superstition in this.

The marks of

the devil are as definite as stone.

What book is that?

What's there, sir?

Here is all the invisible world.

In these books, the devil stands

stripped of all his brute disguises.

Here are all your familiar spirits...

your incubi and succubi.

Your witches that go by land,

by air, and by sea.

Have no fear now.

We shall find him out if he has

come among us.

I mean to crush him utterly if he

has shown his face.

Here is my niece, Abigail.

I'd like to examine your Ruth

before I say more.

Mr. Hale!

I've always

wanted to ask a learned man.

What signifies the reading of

strange books?

Many a night,

I've waked and found her in a corner...

reading of a book,

and not the Bible either.

- Who's that?

- Martha, my wife.

I'm not saying the devil's touched her,

but mark this...

Last night I tried and tried,

could not say my prayers.

Then, she close her book

and walked out of the house...

and suddenly,

mark this, I could pray again.

The stoppage of prayer.

- We'll discuss that.

- Mr. Hale.

Was there no warning of this affliction?

Do you recall any disturbance

before it struck?

Any unusual behavior?

Mr. Hale.

Mr. Parris.

I did discover my niece...

with a number of her friends...

dancing in the forest.

You permit dancing?

No. No.

'Twas secret.

Mr. Parris's slave

has knowledge of conjuring, sir.

Now, that may not be true.

Abigail, you must tell me about this

dancing.

Common dancing is all it is, sir.

Tell me, child, when you

are dancing, is there a fire?

Why...

There was a fire.

They were boiling something.

- Lentils and beans.

- Was anything moving in the pot?

That jumped in.

We never put that in.

What jumped in?

I must see these other girls.

Who are they?

I want their names.

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