Devil come to you all that night?"
All eyes turned to Tam, who was caught in the act of putting his hand out to take the last morsel of cheese from the platter. He withdrew it hurriedly.
"No, no, of course not. The evil gentleman himself ? I never saw. But then, the whiskey, you know. How can I remember who was there and who was not?"
He subsided with a cough.
I saw that Annie was satisfied. She'd planted seeds of doubt in the family's minds. They had believed my story entirely and had been sure that both Granny and I had been victims. Now they were not so certain. Annie cleverly pushed her advantage. She clasped her hands and looked at me pleadingly.
"The Lord has shown me that I was too sure in the evidence I gave about that night. The light was bad, it was cloudy, and the Devil was in my heart. I thought I saw—but I should have said at the trial that I couldn't be certain! I didn't understand, Maggie. I didn't know what they were planning to do to Mistress Elspeth and you. If I had, I'd have lied. I'd have perjured myself to save you!"
She saw at once that she'd made a mistake as Uncle Blair, who had been leaning forward, drew back and frowned. Annie bit her lip, aware that the spell she had so artfully woven had been broken.
Uncle Blair said doubtfully, "And so you left the Isle of Bute and the protection of your master's house, and undertook this long and dangerous journey for the sole purpose of asking Maggie to forgive you?"
I couldn't tell from his voice whether he approved or not. Neither could Annie.
"It was Tam," she said at last. "'You'll never rest easy, Annie,' he told me, 'and the Lord will never accept your repentance, if you don't go in person and throw yourself on the mercy of the girl you have wronged.' Isn't that so, Tam?"
Tam jerked in his seat, and I was sure she'd kicked him under the table.
"Eh? Oh, aye. Yes. That's right." He was nodding, but licking his lips nervously at the same time. I saw then that she had acquired some kind of hold on him and that he was terrified of her.
All eyes now turned to me. Uncle Blair leaned across the table and picked up my hand.
"My dear, the Lord said, 'If thy brother repent, thou shalt forgive him.' Annie has repented, Maggie. Will you forgive her?"
It was too much. My heart was pounding. I was panting as if I'd run up a mountain. I leaped to my feet, knocking over a stool.
"Can't you see, all of you? Don't you understand? She's a liar! A cheat! A thief ! She ran away from Bute because she was afraid of being punished for adultery. She must have got rid of the baby she was carrying. She's come here because she's desperate and she knows you're good and kind, and you'll take her in and look after her, but she'll destroy you, like she destroyed my granny and tried to destroy me. Don't listen to her! I'm begging you! Don't!"
It was no good. Uncle Blair was shaking his head sadly at me, and Aunt Blair had leaned down over Andrew's cradle, turning her back on me. Blinded by my tears, I stumbled to the door and ran outside into the driving rain.
***
It was Ritchie who found me much later. I had thrown myself down against a bale of hay in the barn and had gone from storming tears, through fist-clenching rages and wild schemes of revenge, to the quiet misery of despair. Since I'd come to Ladymuir, I'd found a healing calm, and though I hadn't been truly happy, I'd been accepted by a kindly family. Now I felt as if a malignant hand was reaching out to drag me back to the terrors and violence of the past.
I couldn't speak to Ritchie, who was standing diffidently in front of me, embarrassed by my distress.
"Are you all right, Maggie?" he said at last.
"No. Of course I'm not all right. I don't know what to do."
He squatted down beside me. He had been so shy with me up till now that I hardly knew how to speak to him.
"She's a one, that Annie," he said.
I picked up a wisp of straw and knotted it around my fingers.
"She's the best liar I've ever met, anyway," he went on.
My eyes flew up to meet his. A sprout of