The Witch of Blackbird Pond - Elizabeth George Speare [67]
"Take no blame to yourself, Matthew." The constable rose to his feet. "I'm sorry, what with your daughter sick and all, but we've got to lock this girl up."
"Oh no!" burst out Rachel. "You can't let them, Matthew!"
"Since when," asked Matthew, his eyes flashing, "do you lock up a girl for disobedience? That is for me to settle."
"Not disobedience. This girl is charged with witchcraft."
"That is ridiculous I" thundered Matthew.
"Watch your words, man. The girl has admitted to being a friend to the witch. And there is a complaint against her, made according to law and signed."
"Who dared to sign such a charge?"
"I signed it!" shouted Goodman Cruff. "The girl put a spell on half the children in this town, and I'll see her brought into court if it's the last thing I ever do!"
Matthew looked defeated. "Where do you aim to take her?" he asked.
"Shed back of my place will do. There's no proper jail short of Hartford, and I've lost near a day's work already."
"Wait a minute. How long do you intend to keep her?"
"Till the trial. When Sam Talcott gets back tomorrow he'll likely examine her with the ministers present. That's what they did to Goody Harrison and that Johnson woman. Been twenty years since we had a witch case hereabouts. Reckon there'll be a jury trial in Hartford."
"Suppose I give you my word that until Captain Talcott returns I'll keep her locked in her room upstairs?"
"What good is his word?" demanded Goodwife Cruff. "Has he known where she was these past months?" She wants to see me in jail, Kit thought. She felt numbed by the hatred in the woman's eyes.
"I'd trust you all right," the constable considered. "But they's some I don't trust. They was out of their minds down there last night. One more death in this town and I won't be responsible for what happens. The girl will be safe with me, that I warrant."
Rachel started forward, but Matthew motioned her back. "Get her coat," he ordered. They stood waiting silently in the hallway while Rachel climbed the stairs, weeping, and came back with her own woolen cloak.
"Yours feels damp," she quavered. "Keep this on you, Kit. It may be cold in that place."
The Cruffs walked behind them all the way along High Street, down Carpenter's Lane to the constable's house, and stood by till they saw Kit safely in the shed and heard with their own ears the heavy bolt drop in place outside the door.
The shed was entirely empty save for a pile of straw in one corner of the dirt floor. There was no window, but the rough boards let in chinks of daylight as well as drafts of cold November air. Kit leaned against the doorpost and let the tears run down her cheeks.
Toward late afternoon, when one side of the shed was already deep in shadows, she heard footsteps, the bolt drew back, and the constable's face peered through the door.
"Brought some supper," he growled. "And my wife sent this." He thrust toward her a heavy quilt, none too clean even in that dim light, but a gesture of kindness nonetheless.
"We never had a girl in here before," he explained uneasily. "Funny thing. I'd never a picked you for a witch. But you can't tell."
"Please," Kit ventured. "Those other women you spoke of—Goody Harrison and the other? What happened to them?"
"Goody Harrison was banished from the colony. They hanged Goody Johnson." Then seeing the horror that blanched her face he reconsidered.
"I hardly think they'd be so hard on you," he consoled her. "Being you're so young and the first offense. More likely brand you, or cut off an ear." He slammed shut the door again.
Whatever might be in that wooden bowl, she had no heart even to taste it. She had begun to shake again, and the quilt did not warm her. She had never in all her life known the feeling of a locked door. It was all she could do to hold herself from pounding against it and screaming.
If she should scream, who would hear her? Who was there anywhere who could help her? John Holbrook perhaps. In his quiet way he had a sort of strength and conviction. They might have listened to John. But he was far away in the wilderness of