“It is simply a matter of making sure they realize that you are comfortable with them. Once they realize that, they will be comfortable with you.”

Helen smiled. “I suppose Mrs. Smith could have little doubt that you were comfortable with her after you climbed up a ladder and inspected the bird's nest in her roof.”

“I couldn't very well not look at it. If the birds had been pecking into her thatching, they could create serious damage. As it is, I think the nest should be moved to a nearby tree. I am not certain how to do it, though, without disrupting the chicks. I have heard that the mother bird will not tend to her young if a human has touched them.”

Helen shook her head. “Where do you learn such things?”

“From my brother-in-law, actually,” Ellie said with a wave of her hand. “He has always been quite scientific. Ah, here we are. The last cottage of the day.”

“This is the home of Sally Evans,” Helen said. “She has been widowed for nearly a year now.”

“How sad,” Ellie murmured. “How did her husband die?”

“A fever. It swept through the village last year, but his was the only death.”

“Is Mrs. Evans able to support herself? Does she have children?”

“No children,” Helen replied. “She had been married less than a year. And I am not certain how she makes ends meet. I think she will be looking for a new husband soon. She has a small vegetable garden and a few animals, but when her pigs are gone, I don't know what she'll do. Her husband was a blacksmith, and so she has no land on which to try to grow crops. I doubt she could manage it on her own even if she attempted it.”

“Yes,” Ellie agreed, lifting her hand to knock on the door, “farming is truly backbreaking work. Surely too much for one woman to do by herself. Or one man, for that matter.”

Sally Evans was younger than Ellie had expected, and Ellie could instantly see the lines of grief etched on her pale face. Clearly the woman was still very much in mourning for her husband.

While Helen made the introductions, Ellie looked around the small cottage. It was neat and tidy, but there was a distracted air to it, as if Sally could manage the small tasks of life but couldn't quite tackle the larger ones yet. Everything was in its proper place, but there was a pile of mending as tall as Ellie's hip, and pieces of a broken chair stacked neatly in the corner, waiting to be fixed. The cottage was so cold that Ellie wondered if Sally had lit a fire in days.

During their interview it became apparent that Sally was just going through the motions of life. She and her husband had not been blessed with children, and now she was all alone in her grief.

While Ellie was pondering this, Helen suddenly shivered, and it was a toss up as to who was more embarrassed—Sally for the temperature of her cottage, or Helen for drawing attention to it.