The Witch's Bones - Samhain

3 Samhain - 1634

The standing stones loom around Hepzibah Kemp and Jago Corney as they stand in the rough circle at their centre.

'I'm always drawn here, I don't know why,' she says. 'They soothe me. Help me make decisions. We should live together.'

Jago is taken aback. ''Tis normal for the man to ask for a lady's hand in marriage, Hep.'
'Who said anything about marriage?'

'Have you lost your wits?' he exclaims. 'You have not been in your right mind since Joan and Clem died of the King's Evil.'

'Scrofula is the correct term, and yes, I have been sad because I could have done more to save them.'

'Taken 'em to London for the King's Touch?'

'The divine gift?' exclaims Hep. 'You think a touch from the Kings hand would have cured them? Don't be ridiculous. Superstitious nonsense. No, pilewort might have cured them. I have since read that Nicholas Culpeper claims to have cured his daughter with the plant. I do not know if it would've worked, but if I had known I would have searched the county for it.'

They fall into silence, neither willing to argue further.

'Do you love me?' asks Hep, tentatively.

'You know I do. But I often do not understand the things you talk of. Your ideas seem strange to me. I am not as educated as you.'

'No man that I know has your skills. Who else in this village can tell when the shoals of pilchard are moving North as well as you? You are a steady and intelligent man.'

'But not in the way you are. You could do anything, your knowledge surpasses that of the parson, the Squire, even of the men who write the books you pore over.'

'And what would I do with all my learning? Become a great scholar? No, I could not. The fact is that I was born a woman, and they wouldn't accept me in any place of learning. I shall stay here and use my studies to help folk. I love you too. You're not the cleverest of men, but you're kind-hearted and generous, unlike most of the men in this village. We should live together and make a family.'

'We cannot, you know what'd be said. That we be sinful in the eyes of God. They would shun us.'

'I was Mama and Papa's only child, the cottage is mine, and I want it to remain so. Any daughter of mine, and any daughter of hers, will have a roof over their heads and not have to marry any Tom, Dick, or Harry to secure their future. If I marry you, that couldn't be. I will entail the house in my will, so that Kemps alone shall inherit. It's important that our daughter can pursue a life of investigation and discovery, and not one of drudgery and enslavement to a man.'

'You don't wish to care for me then?'

'Of course I do. I will help you in your business, and you will become the wealthiest fisherman in Port Gwyneth. But you will not be my master.'

'My parents will disown me if I do not marry you. They will call our children misbegotten, baseborn.'

'Then we shall travel away, for a week or so, and when we return will say we wed in a far away parish, and none will be the wiser.'

'Is it so important to you?'

'Yes.'

'Then, if it that is what you want, I agree. For you are the strangest and most beautiful woman I have ever met, and I want to spend my life with you.'

*

It is a bright morning. The sun streams into the courtroom. In contrast, the atmosphere within pervades with gloom. The judge peers at the two men in the dock. One tall, thin, pale and funereal; the other short, round, red-faced and owlish.