and now I saw, for the first time ever, that she was afraid. It set up an answering fear in me, turning my insides to water.
Say something soft, I silently urged her. Say you're sorry that Ebenezer died. Tell him what you told her. Tell him you didn't harm him.
But Granny took a deep breath and scowled. She would follow her own rule, I could see, and try to make her enemies fear her.
The look she turned on Macbean was as hard as a blow and cold enough to freeze the man's liver. He shuddered under her stare, turned pale, and put his arm around his wife's waist.
"Come home, Jeanie, before she puts the evil eye on you too. She's of the Devil, and it's the minister who'll deal with her."
"You see, Maggie?" Granny said triumphantly as we watched Mr. Macbean support his wife's tottering steps up the hill. "I made them fear us. Now they'll leave us alone."
But they won't, I thought. They won't.
Chapter 6
They came for us in May, when the late primroses were still making yellow splashes on the banks. The first I knew of the trouble to come was the sight of Tam hurrying down the lane on his sticklike legs, his tattered coat flapping around him.
"Where's Elspeth?" he gasped, trying to catch his breath.
"Here she comes now." I nodded toward the distant figure of Granny, who was walking back from the shore, carrying the finds of the morning bunched up in her apron. "Why? What's the matter?"
Tam grasped my arm.
"Get away, Maidie! Run! Now!"
I gaped at him.
"Run? Why?"
"They're on their way here! To arrest her!"
My hand flew to my mouth.
"Arrest who? For what?"
"Elspeth!" He was dancing in an agony of impatience from one foot to the other. "For being a witch!"
"Granny's not a witch! You know that! Everyone knows it. All this fuss is coming from Macbean because he wants our cottage. We'll explain and they'll let her go."
"No! You don't understand! Rothesay's in a panic. The talk's all of witches and the Devil and wildness. I'm telling you, they're looking for women to burn! There's no help for Elspeth. And you'll be next. You will, I know it."
I clutched at the doorpost.
"Tam! What am I going to do?"
"Do? I'm telling you! Run!" His almost hairless brows rose till they disappeared beneath his bonnet. "You must leave here. Now! This minute!"
"I—Ica n't! Granny—"
"Maidie, your granny's a dead woman, or as good as. They'll never let her go. They've been wanting this for a long time. There'll be a hanging at the Gallowgate and a burning afterward, and they'll do the same to you if you give them the chance."
"Me? They'd burn me? But I'm not a witch!"
"I know that! You're wasting time!" He snatched off his bonnet in exasperation, then clapped it back onto his head. At any other moment, I'd have laughed at the way he looked, with it dangling down over one eye. "I knew this would happen! How often have I said to her, 'Don't speak so sharp to everyone. Don't give those preachers and praters and black-beetle Presbyterians the chance!' But she would never listen, and now she's done for."
I was slowly catching up with what he was saying.
"They're going to hang Granny? And burn her?"
"Yes. Yes! I told you! And you too! Maidie, you must get off the island."
"Where to? Where can I go?"
He looked behind me into the cottage, as though he would find the answer written on the cottage wall.
"I don't know. Come with me. We'll be vagabonds together."
"I can't leave Blackie. And there's Sheba."
"The cat'll fend for herself. We'll get word to the farmer at Ambrismore. He'll take the cow. Come on, now. They'll be here any minute!"
I backed away from him.
"Tam, I can't. How can I just run away and leave Granny to fight this on her own? Everyone knows I'm not a witch. They wouldn't hurt me."
I was sure I was right. Granny, I could see, might be in danger, but I couldn't imagine how anyone could accuse me. I knew, too, in my heart of hearts, that I would be a fool to trust myself to Tam. He would run away and leave me at the first sign of danger.
And I was right about that, because a moment later, when figures appeared on the crest of the hill above and Tam saw them hurrying down the track toward us, he turned and sprinted up the narrow path past Loch Quien to disappear among the