The Betrayal of Maggie Blair - By Elizabeth Laird Page 0,19

dogs make when they scent their prey. I sensed a movement behind me, and looking around saw an old woman scooping oatmeal from our barrel into the linen bag lying on the table.

The insolence of such a barefaced theft enraged me. I opened my mouth to shout at her, but she frowned at me to be quiet and thrust the bag into my hands.

"Hide it quick, under your apron," she said. "You'll be needing this. They'll not feed you in the prison."

This small act of kindness shook me almost more than the terror and anger of the past half hour. Tears started into my eyes.

"Th-thank you," I stammered.

Her face hardened.

"Don't thank me. Tell your grandmother what I've done. She'll curse everyone that's come here. Tell her Christian Blackie did this, and she'll keep me out of it."

I had no time to reply. They were coming in for me. I snatched up my plaid and wrapped it around my head, and I let them take me.

And so we left the old cottage, with all the loons and wonder-seekers of the island jeering and capering around us, and set off up the long road to Rothesay. I stuck close to Granny's side. She had tossed her hair back, and the weal on her face where she'd been hit showed up as a scarlet slash. She marched with her usual deliberate stride, planting her feet down one after the other with force, as if she was stamping on the earth to punish it. Her mouth was set tight, and her eyes gave nothing away.

The people following us had fallen into a sullen silence, whispering to each other, passing poison back and forth between themselves.

All around us lay the quiet fields of Bute, green and lush, speckled with gold and blue flowers, and the sea curling in quietly onto the beach.

Then I saw a lapwing strutting through grass, and it began to cry, as it always did, "Bewitched! Bewitched!"

"Oh, hold your noise, you dratted bird," I hissed at it. "There's no bewitching here."

Chapter 7

There were only twenty or thirty houses in Rothesay, clustered along the stream above the blackened, ruined walls of the castle, and there can't have been more than a hundred or so people baying like hounds around us, although it seemed like a vast multitude. The grim little tolbooth was unlocked, and we were bundled up the steep steps to the iron-bound door. I turned for a last fearful look at the faces of the people below us, grinning with hatred, before the door clanged shut. I saw Annie standing on the edge of the crowd, deep in conversation with Mr. Macbean. There was something about the way she stood so close to him—looking up into his eyes with her head to one side—that seemed odd to me. But just as my glance fell on them, he bent his head and said something with a fierce look. She stepped back, her mouth open in shocked surprise. She reached forward and caught his sleeve, but he shook her off and turned to go. I saw nothing after that because the door had slammed shut. Granny and I were alone in the cold stone room.

***

Though it was already May, it was a bitter night, with a near frost. The small barred window was set high in the wall, and the shutter was hooked back on the outside, where we couldn't reach to close it. The wind blasting through the open space set my teeth chattering. Our bellies were empty too. No food was brought to us, and without water I couldn't even stir up a cold porridge with my oatmeal.

"You're a fool," Granny said. "Why didn't you run when you saw them coming? You could have saved yourself."

"They'd have come after me. Where could I have run to?" I spoke sharply, but I don't think she heard me. She was listening to the din outside, the crowd in an ugly mood, whistling and calling, and the jailer, Master Donald Brown the locksmith, trying to keep them at bay.

"There's sixpence for you, Donnie my man," someone yelled out, "if you'll open the door and give us a peep at the witches."

"Get away to your houses and stop bothering us," Mr. Brown growled in reply. "You'll get your fill of their evil faces in the morning."

"What does he mean, in the morning? Where? What are they going to do with us?" I whispered to Granny.

"You think anyone's told me?" She gave a bitter laugh. "Listen