Page 5 of As Many Souls as Stars
‘Yes. All four are to be hanged.’
Bess crossed herself and whispered, quietly, ‘God save their souls.’
‘Surely, if they are capable of killing a cattle herd, they could find some manner to escape the execution,’ Cybil said. ‘If they go to the gallows, would that not prove their innocence?’
Her father clicked his tongue. ‘That is not how the authorities see it, Cybil.’
‘Howdothey see it, Father?’
He scowled at her, clearly considering the question impertinent.
‘Regardless,’ Gilbert said, ‘none of these women were actually witches; that much is obvious. But they were scolds and gossips. The village wanted to remove them. If not through the courts, it would be done by some other method, and no doubt more cruelly.’
Cybil pictured the women’s dangling feet as they hanged. ‘More cruel?’ she asked. ‘How could that be possible?’
Gilbert shrugged. ‘At least they had the privilege of a trial.’
Cybil said, ‘From what I have heard, once someone is accused of witchcraft, they are as good as dead. In that case, is a trial a privilege, or a pointless delay?’
‘That is not something for you to decide,’ her father snapped at her. ‘Nor discuss, Cybil, in civilised company.’
It was Gilbert who had brought it up; but Cybil fell silent regardless, plucking at the tablecloth.
‘The issue remains,’ Gilbert said. He steepled his fingers beneath his chin, leaning with both elbows upon the table. There was a sudden earnestness to his expression, perhaps calculated, perhaps not. ‘Suspicions are rising, Christopher. We live in a time of fear: Papists at home and abroad; the Crown’s succession uncertain. I hardly foresee things will improve. Already I have been questioned in regards to your activities. With our family’s reputation…’
Christopher snapped, ‘The queen herself granted me funds for my research. We are richer, more protected, than we have ever been.’
‘You believe that will save us? Considering what you have done?’ Gilbert laughed, coldly and cruelly. He glanced quickly to Cybil, and that glance was an indictment: there was a First Daughter sitting at the table, and he was clearly no more convinced of her father’s ‘cure’ than she was. ‘Among the first imprisoned for witchcraft in England was aduchess. Merely two years ago, an earl in Scotland was convicted.’
‘We are notwitches, brother. Our family carries a heavenly gift.’
‘That has always been your opinion, but that does not mean it is that of others. You have been living in denial for so long, you refuse to see the danger within your very home.’ Gilbert did not look again at Cybil; he did not need to. His steepled fingers rippled back and forth in vexation. ‘If you had done what I had suggested, we might not be in this position. The curse—’
‘Not here,’ Christopher barked, and stood up from the table. ‘Come. We will speak in private.’
Cybil rose, also. ‘But—’
‘No,’ her father told her, voice thunderous. ‘Sit down, girl, and be thankful your insolence has for so long gone unpunished.’
She sat back down.
Her uncle followed Christopher out of the room.
Bess watched them quit the dining hall without comment, then looked back to Cybil. The white paint she had applied to her face, combined with the ashen colour of her hair, made her mother look skeletal and sickly.
Cybil said, ‘What does Gilbert suggest Father do? Why has he never before come to Harding Hall?’
There was a glimmer ofsomethingin her mother’s expression—was it fear?—and she said, ‘I must rest, Cybil.’
‘It is only just past sundown,’ Cybil replied. ‘Mother, I beg of you. He mentioned the curse. Surely he is referring to me?’
Bess shook her head and laid a bone-coloured hand across her chest. ‘I am very tired,’ she murmured, voice nearly too faint to hear. ‘I will go to bed.’
Bess stood up, then paused.
‘Your father cares for us, Cybil,’ she said in quiet resignation, her head bowing. ‘In his own manner. We are women, and thus we cannot know the burdens of such a man. But we might support him as he carries them himself.’
‘You believe love is submission,’ Cybil replied. ‘If that is so, then how can he ever love you back?’
