The answer is very strongly hinted at in Act 1 but
certainly it is made explicit by the end of the play. At the beginning of the play, when
we are introduced to a desperate Parris trying to work out what to do about his
daughter, Betty, he questions Abigail about her reputation in the town. Note what he
asks her:
Abigail, is there any other cause than you have
told me, for your being discharged from Goody Proctor's service? I have heard it said,
and I tell you as I heard it, that she comes so rarely to the church this year for she
will not sit so close to something soiled. What signified that
remark?
Of course, it is
interesting to note Abigail's somewhat volcanic response as she goes to great lengths to
testify to her own "good name" and to denigrate Goody
Proctor.
When we see John Proctor and Abigail together it
is clear that they have had an affair, which is why Abigail was thrown out of the house
and why there is enmity between them.
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