At last, the moon clear above him and knowing he would begin work in but a few hours, he pocketed the stone and turned back towards home. Walked fast, until the bodily pain of trying to catch and keep breath was almost enough to distract from all else.

He had refused to join the witch walk of the previous night, his reputation for cowardice serving him well. Instead he had taken the ring, sought out Molly while the men lit candles and made their way up the cursed hill.

‘What brings you here so late?’ she had asked, stepping into the night.

‘Marry me.’

Even in the darkness he could see the black blot of her open mouth.

‘Were I free to refuse, I would,’ she had said. ‘Not because I do not wish to be your wife, but because you ask out of kindness and not love.’

‘Kindness is as strong a beginning for marriage as any. And perhaps there is a form of love.’

She had looked out across the quiet sea. ‘If there was love, you would know it.’

He shook his head. ‘I don’t think so.’

They stood side by side, watching the black lilting waves.

‘Thank you,’ she said, kissing his cheek.

Her footsteps were soft behind him. The ring still warm in his palm. He had not been able to part with it, in the end. Could conceive of it resting on no other finger but Sarah’s, even now.

So today he and Molly had stood, awkward in their Sunday best, in Magistrate Wright’s sparse room, an unlit fire laid in the grate, a Bible and a copy of the King’s Demonology on the desk.

The magistrate held steepled fingers to his lips. ‘The replacement minister is on his way and should be arriving any day. Once he has settled I’m sure a wedding can be arranged. In the meantime, I have other pressing matters to attend to. I would be grateful if such frivolities as weddings could be dealt with elsewhere.’

Daniel cleared his throat. ‘I’m afraid there is some urgency—’

The magistrate had turned his cold, comprehending glance to where Molly’s gloved hand lay on her belly. ‘Ah,’ he said. ‘I thought it was an unusual match. I am unused to such – rural customs.’

Daniel had flushed with a shame he did not own.

‘I am sure the new minister will be delighted to arrange such a happy occasion at the very moment of his arrival, and I shall inform him of his duty to do so.’

He stood, indicating the door.

‘May – can I ask,’ Daniel said, ‘how your studies into the parson’s death progress?’

Silence for a moment.

‘I am all but certain I have discovered those responsible. I never rush such matters. The more thorough my examinations, the more sure that just punishment is carried out.’