Summary

As Chapter 11 opens, Thirsk spots and contemplates Master Jordan's groom, who without much to do has been wandering the village and making "a nuisance of himself with any pretty face he meets" (148). The air in the village is tense, as Lizzie Carr and the women are still captive in the manor house, and all of the usual post-harvest labor has come to a halt. A village congregation has been called for noon that day, but until then no one in the community is sure how to pass the time.

When the groom sees Thirsk, he asks him where Mistress Beldam is hiding. When Gervase Carr -- Lizzie's father -- spots the men talking, he approaches the groom and aggressively asks her where his daughter is. In response, the groom makes a joke about Lizzie burning at the stake, and a mob of villagers violently...