Summary

The curtain comes up on an empty stage, and the audience hears voices through the open basement door. Abby and Martha can be heard telling Jonathan to stop what he is doing; the two then enter from the basement, and look around for Mortimer. When Abby asks where he went, Martha says that he stormed out after telling Jonathan that he would “settle things”. They then talk about what a terrible thing it is to bury a good Methodist in the same grave as a “foreigner”.

Mortimer then enters from the door to the outside carrying Teddy’s commitment papers, which he has had signed by a neighborhood doctor. He tells Abby and Martha that since they told Jonathan about the graves in the basement, the only way he can protect them is to blame the murders on Teddy...