After that first meal, she did not come to the same sitting. I only saw her from a distance on the farms once or twice; then at last, one midmeal I saw her come out of a barn to collect her lunch. I followed and sat down beside her. “What do you want?” she asked listlessly. “Do you know me?” I said in a low voice. “You are Elspeth Gordie,” she said flatly. Bewildered by her manner, I leaned closer and asked, “Is it Jes? Has something happened to him?” “I don’t want to talk to you,” Rosamund said dully. I bit my lip and suppressed an urge to shake her. “He would not have let you come here alone. He cared about you,” I said. Her face trembled with some feeling, so I pressed her. “He’s my brother. You must tell me if he’s all right.” She looked away from me. “Leave me alone,” she whispered. “I know that you denounced me,” I said, desperate to get a response from her. Her face paled a little. “You knew?” Then the bitterness I had seen that first day in the kitchen returned to her eyes.
