For a moment she thought she was back at the manor farm, listening to the bell that had tolled repeatedly after Hamo disappeared, calling the lost child home. Then she remembered where she was, and her spirits sank even lower. She sat up and looked across at Agnes. Even though her touch had warned her of what to expect, still the sight of the girl's disfigurement in the daylight made Janna suck in her breath with startled pity. Her right eye was half-closed from the injury, the skin above and below a crisscrossed mass of rough red scars. The whole side of her face was affected. Too late, Janna tried to conceal her shock, but Agnes's eyes were open and she had seen. 'It's really bad, isn't it?' she whispered. Janna bit her lip, wondering how to answer. Of course there would be no looking glass here in the abbey, no way for Agnes to see the damage to her face unless she caught a glimpse of herself in some piece of polished metal, or the still surface of a pond, perhaps. But her own touch must tell her the worst of it.
