Summary

Thirsk hopes to find both Beldams, newly reunited, later in the evening, but he does not see them anywhere. Lonely, and staying now in Kitty Gosse's home, Thirsk finds her supply of green barley ale and -- although not a habitual drinker -- drinks several pots of it. As he becomes drunk, he hallucinates seven visitors: Mr. Quill, Kitty, John Carr, Master Kent, the Beldams, and Cecily. Eventually he gets so drunk that he has to throw up outside; then he goes to sleep. He dreams that the seven visitors take turns driving a metal prong into his brain, in the same way that Willowjack was killed.

Thirsk wakes up with a pounding head, imagining that the Beldams spent the night in the manor house -- a theory that is confirmed when he sees smoke coming from the house's chimney. He goes into the...