Chapter Eighteen: Summary and Analysis

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

The chapter opens in Isobel's shop, where she is sorting hooks and eyes when Nat Hathorne enters in a hooded cape, shaking off rain. He places a curled, soiled scrap of white cotton on the table—the scarlet A cloth Isobel stitched—and tells her the New Harmony will be seven more weeks at sea. Isobel wants to tell him her pap is dying and that Edward isn't on the ship, but Felicity's watchful presence keeps her to small talk about rain and gardens.

Felicity joins them and steers the conversation toward gloves, showing Nat the pair with the red rose. Nat asks about an embroidered vest with a stag or leopard, and Felicity mentions the upcoming Light Infantry banquet. After he leaves, Isobel reflects that she and Felicity stand on the side of the accused, while Nat stands with the accusers—yet she trusts him and wants him despite the curse that follows him.

That night, Isobel dreams of her mother standing beneath a tree beside the River Clyde. In the dream, she asks whether her husband should come home or whether someone else is meant for her. Her mother fades, telling her to think of the faeries beneath the May trees. Isobel wakes to knocking—Nat is at her door, drunk, soaked, and injured. He explains he played cards in Marblehead and won money to buy her gloves, but was attacked outside town.

Isobel lets him in, helps him out of his ruined coat, and cleans and stitches a wound on his chest. She notices a rash of small scratches on his back, like the scratching of a cat's paws, and recalls the penitent she saw in Glasgow who whipped his own back—suggesting self-flagellation. Nat asks her to repair his coat, and she agrees. He sleeps in her bed while she sits in a chair, remembering every moment with him.

In the morning, Nat wakes and asks her to finish the coat by Friday, explaining he can't let his uncle know he was gambling. Isobel says she'll repair it if she can find the fabric. She tucks red hairs from her pocket into his vest, and they arrange a signal: a candle in the window means he may come. As he leaves in the dawn, Isobel sees two figures running toward the sea—a man and a woman. The woman is Mercy in her turban, disappearing into the trees.

The chapter shifts to Salem in 1701. Tituba, free after the trials, has spent sixty moons alone in the forest, cleansing herself with herbs—nettle, raspberry, lavender, chamomile, lemon verbena, and calendula. She plans to travel west, where no one will ever own her again. Before leaving, she visits Dorcas, the girl who lost her mind during the trials and still wanders the Witch Path calling for her mama. Tituba tells Dorcas her mama sends her love, though she sees the girl will not live much longer. Tituba leaves, singing of freedom.

Key Events

Nat returns the soiled scarlet A cloth to Isobel and reports the New Harmony will be seven more weeks at sea.
Nat asks about gloves and mentions an embroidered leopard vest, signaling his interest in Isobel's needlework.
Isobel dreams of her mother by the River Clyde, who tells her to remember the faeries beneath the May trees.
Nat arrives drunk and injured at Isobel's cottage after winning money in a Marblehead card game to buy her gloves.
Isobel stitches a wound on Nat's chest and notices scratch-like marks on his back, suggesting self-flagellation.
Nat sleeps in Isobel's bed; in the morning, she agrees to repair his ruined coat.
Isobel tucks red hairs into Nat's vest as a talisman, and they arrange a candle-in-the-window signal.
Isobel sees Mercy running toward the sea with a man at dawn.
In 1701, Tituba, free after the trials, prepares to travel west and visits the troubled girl Dorcas before departing.

Character Development

Isobel grows more decisive and self-aware in this chapter. She acknowledges her desire for Nat without lying to herself, even as she recognizes the danger of aligning with a Hathorne. Her willingness to let him into her cottage—and her bed—marks a turning point from passive endurance to active choice. Her dream of her mother suggests she is weighing her marriage to Edward against a possible future with Nat.

Nat reveals vulnerability beneath his composed exterior. Drunk, injured, and confessing his gambling, he shows a side of himself that is impulsive and desperate for Isobel's approval. The scratches on his back hint at self-punishment, suggesting inner conflict between his desires and his sense of guilt. His request for a repaired coat and his arrangement of a candle signal show he is investing in a secret relationship.

Tituba emerges as a figure of hard-won freedom. After sixty moons alone in the forest, she has cleansed herself of the haunting of the trials. Her decision to go west reflects her belief that neither land nor people should be owned. Her visit to Dorcas shows compassion for those left broken by the trials.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

The scarlet A cloth returns as a physical token of Isobel's secret work and her connection to Nat—both a mark of shame and a bond between them.
The leopard is named aloud as a solitary hunter, raising the question of who is hunter and who is prey in Isobel and Nat's dynamic.
Red hair as a talisman: Isobel tucks her red hairs into Nat's vest, echoing her mother's words about faeries beneath May trees and linking her to her Scottish heritage.
The name as a bell: Nat sings