“So that’s that,” she said to Alinor begrudgingly. “He’d set his heart on her, and she pulled a dowry out of her pocket that no one would ever have dreamed. You’d think he was enchanted.”

“Yes, yes . . .” Alinor was lost for words, still stunned at the sight of Jane Miller’s dowry purse in Alys’s hands. Alys palmed it back into her pocket without looking at her mother.

“And your son doing so well!” Mrs. Stoney said, allowing herself some warmth. “Apprentice to an apothecary in Chichester! What a start for a young man!”

“Yes,” Alinor said. She realized she was nodding, still speechless. “Yes.”

“How ever did he get a place like that?” Mrs. Stoney invited her to explain.

“They like him at the Priory.” Alinor found her lips were so stiff that she could hardly form the words. “He’s been companion to Master Walter and they paid for his apprenticeship. He’ll start when Walter begins at the university. They call it the Lent term.”

“Shall we have a glass of wine? And will you take your breakfast with us?” Mr. Stoney urged hospitably. “Now we’re to be family? And I’ll show you round the barns and the orchards, Mrs. Reekie, and I daresay you’ll want to see the herb garden.”

“Yes, please,” Alinor said faintly. “I would like that. I would like that. Thank you.”

The two women waved good-bye to the Stoney family, and walked together in silence up the road to Chichester. Alinor felt a gripping pain in her belly, which she thought was fear, and had the taste of sickness in her mouth, which she knew was dread.

The farm was half a mile behind them and out of sight before Alys spoke. “Say something. Please say something.”

“Are you mad, Alys?”

“I know! I know! I must be!”

They walked a few more steps in silence, then Alinor felt Alys’s cold hand creep into her own.

“Help me, Ma.”

“How can I? This is a hanging offense. This is theft.”

“I know. I know.”

“It’s Jane Miller’s dowry, isn’t it? In her mother’s red leather purse?”

“Yes. Of course.”

“What’re you going to do?”

“Put the purse back. I just had to show it. I’m not going to steal it. I’ll earn what I need for my wedding day. I’d never steal for it.”

“It’s only six months away! We’ll never earn enough. We wouldn’t earn enough in six years. And if Mrs. Miller goes to her hiding place and finds Jane’s dowry missing, she’ll turn the mill upside down and accuse everyone. You and me first. Alys, how could you!”

“I’ll get it back in hiding before she misses it. But I have to marry him.”

“Because you’re lovers already?”

The girl gave a little gasp, which was a confession in itself. “Because I love him so much. I’d rather be hanged as a thief at Easter than lose him now.”