Fairfax's bewitchment is traced to the penny which Mrs. Fairfax had accepted from Margaret Waite Senior as a tariff on her corn sales. This penny, a penny which was never where it was supposed to be, and would not melt in the fire, would come to haunt Helen Fairfax. Edward Fairfax finally "dissolved with brimestone and fire and beat it to powder upon a stone."(42-45)