‘The special gift of a wise woman is not to be treated lightly,’ Madame Bettina said angrily. ‘Those that have the knowledge must use it only for good. Those that are ignorant should not try to engage with what they don’t understand. There is great harm to be done in such foolishness.’

Gina was taken aback; this was supposed to be fun. ‘W-what do you mean?’ she said faintly.

‘You know!’ Betty yelled, rising to her feet and looming terrifyingly over Gina. ‘Now go, and put your nonsense behind you!’

Gina leaped to her feet and rushed out of the tent, her face burning and her heart pounding. She walked away from Madame Bettina’s tent as quickly as she could without actually fleeing. She urgently needed to go somewhere quiet and think about what had happened. As a part of the Hall household, she was free to go anywhere in the gardens, so she made for a part closed off to visitors, where she could sit quietly and recover herself.

‘Gina! There you are.’

It was Ellen calling after her, but Gina didn’t look back. She dodged into the topiary garden and hid behind one of the giant sculptured bushes. This part of the garden was famous locally and there were several visitors here admiring the strange shapes. Gina waited a minute or two, then, keeping a lookout for anyone she knew, slipped away through the gate today marked ‘Private’ at the far end, and went to sit in a secluded corner of the vegetable garden to contemplate the horrible fortune-telling experience.

Gina had no doubt that Betty had been talking about the magic spells Gina had cast – what else could she mean? But how did she know? Could she really have learned about that through looking into the crystal ball? It seemed too far-fetched, but then Gina believed she herself had cast the spells, so why wouldn’t she believe that Betty could see such strange things? Oh, it was so confusing and yet it made a weird kind of sense.

Betty had been very angry, too. There is great harm to be done in such foolishness – was she a foolish person who could do great harm? She had accidentally killed the sheep and the lambs, but then she had successfully rid the Hall of Mrs Thwaite and stepped into her shoes, so maybe that business with the sheep was just a beginner’s mistake. She was still awaiting the result of the third spell, and was beginning to think that nothing would come of it. Since Gina had assumed the role of housekeeper at the Hall, and also keeping Edith company when she was lonely, Edith had been a lot happier, and it was down to Gina that Edith’s children had come home to visit her now. How was that doing harm? She had got much of what she’d set out to do so far, and everyone else was better for it.