‘That he would say yes. Because I was determined to do it right, I knew he’d be proud at last, that you’d made a good match. Better than he ever could have hoped for you.’

‘No—’

His lips pulled back. ‘But then . . . you started up with him. Right in front of me, like you were trying to taunt me.’

‘No, I wasn’t, I swear—’

‘And I saw then that you did know how to love a man. That you did know yourself as a woman. I saw you throwing yourself at him, behaving like a whore in front of me, and your father and the whole village.’

‘No—’

He slapped her then, so hard that she would have fallen over had he not been holding her up.

‘Yes. You’re a whore, Effie Gillies, and now everyone knows it. You’ve brought shame on your father. On your family name.’ He gave another joyless laugh. ‘And yet, still I’m prepared to forgive you. To give you a chance of respectability, of a good life. Am I a madman? Am I?’

He appeared to genuinely be asking her. He looked crazed; the whites of his eyes were threaded with red veins.

‘Please—’

‘Why could you never look at me like that? Just once? Why did you always act like there was a bad smell around me, even after all the things I gave you. Gifts. Tokens of love . . . And you accepted them.’

‘I didn’t know—’

‘But you did. You did, Effie. You knew no one else got special favours . . . The hand that gives is the hand that gets. Did you really think there would be no payment in kind?’

He looked deep into her eyes but she couldn’t answer. Her brain had frozen.

‘No, perhaps you didn’t. You’re a simple girl. An idiot, really. Perhaps you thought there’d be a happy ending with him . . .’ He laughed, laughed long. ‘As if it could ever happen. You have no idea of the society he belongs to, his place in the world . . . I pity you, Effie. He’s been playing with you . . . and you don’t even realize it.’

‘It’s not true,’ she sobbed.

‘Aye, it is. Every word . . . It’s just lucky for you I’m a man of honour.’

Honour? The word promised a glimmer of hope.

‘What . . .’ she hiccupped. ‘What are you going to do?’

The smile came back, slow and menacing, as he pointed to something lying on the ground by their feet, the broomstick just a dark shape she hadn’t noticed before now. She looked back at him as she realized his plan.

‘No!’ she cried. ‘No! No!’ She wrestled furiously, fighting him now. ‘You can’t make me!’ She began to scream but he slapped her again, twice, so hard it made her head ring, dazzling her. His grip tightened around her arm so that his fingertips touched.