The sisters flee to the woods

The sisters’ flight to the woods is the escape from the villagers’ violent encirclement of Blackwood House and the moment Mary Katherine Blackwood gets Constance beyond their immediate reach. It is no clean dash to safety: Constance is frightened and faltering, the crowd repeatedly blocks their route, and Mary Katherine has to choose between running and keeping her sister from falling. Only after Jim Clarke announces Julian Blackwood’s death does the press of villagers loosen enough for the sisters to disappear into the trees.

The Flight Begins at the House

The sisters’ escape begins amid the villagers’ intrusion into Blackwood House. Laughter and the repeated singsong of “Merricat, said Constance, would you like a cup of tea?” reach the sisters as they stand outside the dining-room windows. The refrain, once a familiar domestic exchange, has become part of the crowd’s taunting. When Mary Katherine hears dishes smash and realizes the villagers are coming close, she tells Constance, “we have to run.” Constance covers her face with her hands and shakes her head; when Mary Katherine begs her to run with her, Constance says, “I can’t.”

A shout rises from just inside the dining-room window, followed by the window’s breaking. Mary Katherine pulls Constance away a moment before it gives way. She imagines that a chair may have been thrown through it—the dining-room chair where their father and later Charles used to sit—linking the immediate threat to the family’s violated home. As the sisters move toward the steps, Constance throws Julian Blackwood’s shawl over her face to hide it. Their escape begins not with confidence but with concealment, urgent physical guidance, and the effort to get Constance out of the crowd’s sight.

Blocked Routes Through the Crowd

Mary Katherine leads Constance carefully down the steps rather than running at once, afraid that her sister might fall. The distinction matters: the way out is physically available, but Constance’s unsteady movement sets the pace. Mary Katherine holds her hand and watches for a moment when they can move without being seen. Once someone spots them, the villagers surround them, pushing, laughing, and trying to come closer. Constance keeps Julian Blackwood’s shawl across her face, and the sisters stand pressed together in the crush.

Mary Katherine tries to escape by changing direction, but the crowd repeatedly closes each opening. When the sisters turn toward the trees, Jim Donell’s wife and Mrs. Mueller step in front of them with outstretched arms. Stella and the Harris boys block another attempt; the boys shout “Down in the boneyard ten feet deep.” Mary Katherine turns them toward the house, only to find Elbert the grocer and his wife halting them. Jim Donell then steps in front of them as well. The villagers keep their distance while circling the sisters, turning their fear of being touched into a taunting performance: Jim Donell repeats the poisoning accusation in mock politeness, while the crowd’s laughter overwhelms the song and shouts.

The repeated stops make the escape a sequence of thwarted routes rather than a straight run. Mary Katherine sees another opening and pulls Constance toward the trees, but the Harris boys are there; she turns back toward the house, where Stella blocks them. Constance stumbles. Mary Katherine stops because she cannot bear the thought of her sister falling where the villagers might step on her. Her caution protects Constance, but it also leaves them exposed inside the circle. The immediate objective is not simply to get away: Mary Katherine must find a route that Constance can manage without being left behind or brought down.

Julian Blackwood’s Death Changes the Scene

From the porch, Jim Clarke first tries to quiet the villagers, but his warning does not end the laughter. He then raises his voice and announces, “Julian Blackwood is dead.” The statement gives the crowd a reason to leave: Jim Clarke tells them to go quietly because there has been a death in the house, and begins turning people toward their cars and the driveway. The scene shifts from the sisters’ attempted escape under active pursuit to a brief opening created by the crowd’s dispersal.

The announcement also confirms the loss that the mob’s taunts had obscured. When the doctor asks where Julian Blackwood is, a woman answers with the cruel phrase “Down in the boneyard ten feet deep.” After Jim Clarke’s announcement, the same words are heard again from the departing crowd, but the narrator also hears Helen Clarke say, “Poor Julian.” The villagers’ mockery and Helen’s grief occupy the same sudden quiet. The sisters do not wait for the gathering to clear completely: Mary Katherine takes a cautious step into the darkness, and the doctor’s single word, “Heart,” reaches her from the porch. No one turns to look at them as car doors close and motors start.

Shelter Beyond the Lawn

Mary Katherine leads Constance away slowly at first, then hurries once the trees’ shadows fall over them. She does not stop until the sisters have left the grass and reached the soft, mossy path through the woods. There, with the trees closed around them, she embraces Constance and tells her it is all over and all right. The forest’s darkness, which could have made escape more difficult, becomes cover that the crowd and the lit house cannot provide.

Mary Katherine knows the route in darkness as well as in daylight. She remembers that she has put her hiding place in order and refreshed it, and imagines making it comfortable for Constance with leaves, stories, berries, and water in a leaf cup. She leads Constance inside, seats her beside a fresh pile of leaves and a blanket, and takes Julian Blackwood’s shawl from her face to cover her. Jonas is already there, purring in a corner. Mary Katherine then lays branches across the entrance so that even people carrying lights would not see them. The escape thus ends not in a return to the house but in a concealed shelter prepared in advance and made into a refuge for both sisters.

Consequence and Narrative Significance

The flight changes the sisters’ immediate position: they pass from being surrounded and exposed to being hidden together in the woods. Its emotional movement is sharply qualified. Mary Katherine can tell Constance that they are safe for the moment, and she tends to her with the shawl, leaves, and blanket; yet the final image is not uncomplicated peace. Thinking of a broken Dresden figurine, Mary Katherine says, “I am going to put death in all their food and watch them die.” The vow shows that escape has not displaced her hostility toward the villagers. The woods provide shelter from the crowd, but the closing threat carries the violence of the encounter into the sisters’ refuge.