Altha reflects on wishing she had parchment and ink in the dungeon to record her thoughts before being executed.
She reminisces about her mother teaching her to read, write, and understand the properties of herbs, but there are other teachings she isn’t ready to discuss.
Altha recounts her mother changing after visitors from Clitheroe; her mother released a crow they had raised, which symbolized loss.
Her mother insisted on staying indoors except for church, fearing for their safety due to village suspicions of witchcraft.
The mother’s health deteriorated, and she avoided contact with the outside, suspecting the natural world as essential for their well-being.
Altha's mother succumbed to the sweating sickness despite Altha's diligent care following her mother’s instructions on her herbal remedies.
After her mother’s death, Altha often thought of Grace, her only other loved one, who had married and seemed happy from a distance.
Altha, uninvited to Grace's wedding, secretly watched the ceremony, noting the change in her own life without her loved ones.
The prosecutor in Altha's trial calls William Metcalfe, who accuses Altha of witchcraft and the murder of his son-in-law and wife.
Metcalfe recounts his wife Anna's illness and death and blames Altha and her mother for her demise after they offered their healing services.
Grace’s father suggests Altha and her mother are not normal women, insinuating that Altha's mother bore her of the devil.
Overwhelmed by the accusation against her and her mother, Altha cries in court, and the courtroom reacts with whispers and stares.
The prosecutor labels Altha as the "devil’s whore" and blames her for the death of an honest man, insisting she’s a blight upon society.
Despite the emotional strain, Altha refuses to hide her face again, confronting the prosecutor with a defiant stare.