As she was so near, it would be silly simply to turn around and walk back to town. In any case, she was thirsty; she would beg a drink of water drawn from the sweetness of the well, the well that once, when she was a child, she used to believe was a magic one that would grant her every wish. The only wish she had now was to make herself useful in some way, use her skill for the benefit of children who would think it a miracle to walk straight. She bit her lip. Perhaps, if she was honest, there was another wish, an impossible wish that involved Will Davies. She thought of him holding her in his arms so tenderly; they would have been so right together, and yet, foolishly, she had allowed herself to quarrel with him. Why couldn’t she have left well alone? Eline was almost at the door of the farmhouse when she heard the sharp retort of a gun. It echoed on the still air, sending the ravens flying from the trees in a dark ragged cloud. Eline began to run. No-one on the land used a gun anywhere near the house – not unless something was radically wrong.
