‘Isn’t henbane for pain?’ I ask, though I’ve seen Seth breathe it in like this many times and never has he been complaining of toothache or pangs of the joints.

The glance Mam gives me over the top of his head is a warning. ‘This is pain, just of the being not the body.’

I want to argue with her. Should Seth speak of what she does there’s no knowing what will become of us now the new magistrate is here He will act on the smallest evidence of witchcraft, if the stories are true.

Seth has had his fill, groaning out a long loud breath and lying back on the floor, eyes closed, arms spread wide. His sigh is one of contentment and I see his recovery quickens. He is over the worst of the sorrow. She takes the pan, dipping her own head into the fumes and breathing its treacherous scent. I leave, pulling the door closed behind me, for the effect of the vapours unnerves me and I try to keep from taking them in.

The smoke works on me already, I feel it painting the sky a heavier shade, churning the squeals of laughter I hear coming from Annie into an echoing hunting cry. She is riding on John’s shoulders as he gallops to and fro across the grass. When he sees me he slides Annie to the ground, and she runs to take the crammings I hold out. I swear a serpent, black and glistening, curls itself inside John’s mouth as he smiles. The smoke does its work on me.

‘Aren’t you just the one I’m looking for?’ he says, and there is a hardness to his eyes that is a warning. He’s endured some disappointment, then, some cruelty, and now turns it my way. The serpent lies in place of his tongue so I know the words that spill from there will be drops of poison I should not take in. I watch Annie dart towards the trees and wish I could follow, but I am rooted where I stand.

‘You’ll be wanting to know the tattle I overheard down the village today, though I’ve a mind not to tell you.’

‘Overheard while you were crouched behind a hedge watching the lasses walk by?’

He is not to be diverted, but waits, and the serpent is a shadow behind his teeth. It mesmerises me so, I barely notice Seth stumble past us, struggling to replace his hat.

‘There’s all prattling of your farmer lad today.’

Mention of Daniel tears my gaze from the serpent to John’s eyes, and I see from the triumph there that I’ve betrayed myself. He rocks back on his heels, hands behind back, chin lifted as he spins out my torment.

‘What of him?’ I ask, unable to bear the power of John’s silence any longer. ‘And how do you …?’