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"I&039; that we have a sack of gold coins that ish to keep a secret, you&039;re sadly mistaken"

The coin was in the pocket of Matthew&039;s breeches, and he would&039;ve taken it out to show her but he doubted it would do any good but siues in motion "I really did only find one," he told her

"Yes" Her smile remained constant "Of course you did That&039;s what I certainly shall tell anyone who asks istrate "When will the witch swing, siri"

"Well, I - "

"I would like to know in advance, so I reat number of people there to see it, I&039;allows be constructedi"

It took Woodward a few seconds to recover fro shock of the woman&039;s rather brusque questions "I really don&039;t know, Mrs Vaughan But at the moment there are no plans to construct a scaffold"

"Ohi" Her ses of her cupid&039;s-bow mouth "I presumed you were here to carry out an execution"

"You and many others, evidently I a there will be an execution, but it may be delayed for several daysi"

Noas Woodward&039;s turn to study the ground

"The witch han plowed on Her initial sweetness had given way to so more sour "For the sake of this town and everyone in it, she must be executed as soon as possible I mean to say, as soon as justice is satisfied Do you have any idea when that e, aren&039;t youi Surely you&039;re not going to suffer the witch to live and keep cursing us too istrate!" Woodward and Matthe that Bidwell&039;s carriage had stopped nearby, before it made the turn onto Peace Street Bidwell had reesture that Woodward took as contrition "Good day there, Mrs Vaughan! I trust you and your fa Rachel Howarth won&039;t swing anytiht with disgust "What&039;s wrong with this istratei Has the witch already claimed himi"

Bidwell decided, at this coistrate Woodward has the situation well in hand, madaistrate, han," Woodward said, and she gave an indignant grunt, lifted her pinched nose in the air, and strode away in the direction she&039;d coe "Yesi"

Bidwell stared at his tricorn, his fingers working the curled briy, sir Solanced quickly up to gauge the istrate&039;s reaction, then lowered his eyes once rief I know this is a difficult situation as it is for all of us But you do understand my responsibility here, don&039;t youi"

"I do I trust you understand and will respect y I&039;d also like you to knoill do my best to resolve your predicament as soon as possible, within the bounds and necessities of the law"

"I ask nothing ave a visible exhalation at the fact that this distasteful business of apology was concluded "Might I offer you and your clerk a ridei"

"Yes, I&039;d certainly accept one It is terribly hurateful that the air had been cleared, since any difficulty with their host would be painful to endure He stepped up on the carriage&039;s footclimb as Bidwell opened the door for him, and then he eased himself into the seat that faced the other man He realized that Matthew hadn&039;t moved an inch froi"

"No, sir, I ay," Bidwell said, and now the word tasted like spoiled cheese, "was directed to your clerk as well as to you, sir" He was staring at Woodward, not even bothering to lay eyes on the boy

"I&039;d rather walk," Matthew said, before theto be a diplo powers "I would like the chance to think awhile also to explore the town"

"If your clerk desires to walk, he shall walk" Bidwell raised his voice to deliver a coave the reins a flick, the teae moved away fro out of its path a couple of scruffy-looking dogs ere growling over a- much se&039;s wheels, grabbed up the bone, and fled at speed while its rivals seeape in an amazed stupor before they took pursuit

Mattheas on his own He began walking again, going no particular place and certainly in no hurry He crossed the intersection of streets and headed ard on Industry Strolling past reeted and was greeted by several people ere either at work on their various labors of living or alking to other destinations Here and there stood groups of oak trees,their branches above the roofs and yards The nue treestumps told Matthew that it had been an endeavor of some sweat and toil to clear this land for any kind of use, but the fallen trees had been put to good service in the walls that protected Fount Royal It had been no easy job to build this town to its present condition, that was a surety; the sheer willpower of the people to settle what not long ago had been thick woods at the edge of a seaboard swa the nuardens made him fully realize the hopes that humans held to be masters of an untamed land

"Gooda broken fence

"Good onna deliver us fro up fro considered," was all Matthew felt free to say

"I hope he does s, sooner we can sleep well at night!"

"Yes, sir I&039;ll be sure to pass that along to theon his ard trek He expected another response, but theher, Mrs Nettles had said They&039;d hang her this ray sackcloth, huddled in the hay

What she needs is a chaht of the way she&039;d risen to her feet, the slow and sinuousharder

Soht of the sackcloth co open, and as revealed beneath He saw her lean taut body, her raven-black hair, her heartshaped face and strange gold-hued eyeswhen ever&039;body else is again&039; her

He had to stop thinking The thoughts were causing hirowl of distant thunder and realized, not without a sense of hu rod That was a da, and to be ashamed of The woman was, after all, aBut still she was a wo rod at the sight of so by, he had devisedbyco the patterns of nature; all those had sufficed at one time or another In this instance, however, neither Deuteronoeometry had the least effect Therefore he steered hihty oak and sat down beneath it to ease his passions in study of grass, clouds, and anything else that needed studying

More rain, that gift of life the people of Fount Royal certainly could live without for a tiainst the lighter gray, and could smell the scent of water in the air It would soon be above the town, and Mattheelcomed it because it would wash some of this nonsense out of him and it was nonsense, really, to let hiht of a woman&039;s nudity He was the clerk - the trusted clerk - of an iistrate, and by that office and responsibility he should be above these transgressions of thought

He watched the storan lowing a hting the bit The ser now, and the next boo pounded Still Matthew stayed where he was, though he&039;d begun to wonder about finding better shelter Then the wind came and ot up and started walking eastward along Industry Street

Lightning flared across the sky Within anotherMatthew&039;s back He picked up his pace, realizing he was in for a thorough soaking The severity of the rainfall rapidly increased, as did the hard-bloind Matthew had not yet reached the conjunction of streets when the bottom fell out of the bucket with a booray torrent that all but blinded him In a matter of seconds he was as wet as a carp The as fierce, al into thehis face, and saw in the aqueous gloo invitation; lie ran toward the shelter, which proved to be a small barn, and once inside he stepped back from the windblown entrance and shook the rain frorels

Matthew sur a lantern, a flaloithin its bell; Matthew realized someone had been recently here, but where that someone noas he didn&039;t know There were four narrow stalls, two of the a horse; both horses stared at hi of sorts deep in the throat Matthew ran a hand through the stubble of his wet hair and watched the deluge at a prudent distance froether There were a few pattering raindrops falling froh to be bothersome He looked about for a place to rest and saw a pile of hay over against the far wall; going to it, he sat down and stretched his legs out to await the stor hi Matthew hoped that whoever owned this barn would not be too troubled by his presence here, but he didn&039;t care to drown on the way to Bidwell&039;sdown - if anything, harder than before - and Matthew figured that his stay here would be, unfortunately, longer than he&039;d planned

a drop of rain plunked him on the top of the head He looked up in time to receive another raindrop between his eyes Yes, he was sitting directly beneath a leak He moved two feet or so to the left, nearer the wall, and stretched his legs out before hiain

But then he beca into his spine He reached back, his hand ing into the hay, and there his fingers cah burlap a sack of so a sack, buried in the hay

He pulled his hand away from it Whatever the sack contained, it was not his business after all, this was private property He should be gracious enough not to go looking through private piles of hay, shouldn&039;t hei

He sat there for athe rain Perhaps it had lessened somewhat, perhaps not The leak that hadHe reached back, almost unconsciously, sank his hand into the hay, and felt the sack&039;s surface once ers Private property, he told himself Leave it alone

But a question had come to him This was indeed private property, so why had its owner felt the need to hide a burlap sack at the bottom of a haypilei and the next question, of course - what did the sack contain that i

"It&039;s notit could convince hi else that Mrs Nettles had said: Satan does walk in Fount Royal, but Rachel Howarth&039;s na&039; the one beside his that nae want to be seen are plentiful here and that&039;s God&039;s truth

Matthew found his that, as Mrs Nettles had expressed it, nae wanted to be seen

If that was so,on the case of witchcrafti and if it did, was he not bound to investigate it as a representative of Magistrate Woodwardi

Perhaps so Then again, perhaps not He was torn between his curiosity and his respect for private property anotherwhich the frown of deliberation never left Matthew&039;s face Then he ood look at the sack, and thereafter dictate his actions

When the job was done, Matthe that it was si it, however, indicated that its content was not grain; his fingers made out a circular shape that seemed to be rasped the sack and, in attee it, quickly learned how heavy it was His shoulders protested the effort Now all reluctance to pierce this mystery had fled before the attack of Matthew&039;s desire to know; he gave the sack ait free about half of its length His hands felt another circular shape, and the folds and creases of so, in preparation of dragging it out so he ht inspect its other - and presuave a snort and a whuff of air Matthew felt the small hairs move on the back of his neck and he knew in an instant that someone else had just entered the barn

He started to turn his head Before he could, he heard the crunch of a boot on the earthen floor and he was grasped by two hands, one around the back of the neck and the other seizing his right arht have been a curse with God&039;s name in it, and an instant after that Mattheas picked up and thrown through the air with terrifying force He had no tiht shoulder grazed a wooden post and then he collided with the gate that secured one of the es and he fell to the floor, his bones having suddenly become unjointed and less solid than as objects of pliable putty

He was struggling to get his breath when his attacker looain, and now a hand took hold of his shirt and pulled him up and another hand clamped upon his throat The pressure was such that Matthew feared his eyeballs would explode from their sockets "You sneakin&039; bastard, you!" themotion the man threw Matthew once more, this time into the ith such force that the entire barn trembled and old dust blew from the chinks The stunned clerk felt his teeth bite into his tongue, and as he sank to the ground again in a haze of pain he tasted bitter blood

The man caed, and he swung a booted foot directly at Matthew&039;s head Matthe in a flash that if he didn&039;t move, his skull would be bashed in, so he scrabbled forward and at the saot hi a cry of pain fro and pulled his legs underneath hiain Matthew staggered up, his knees buckled, but he forced them to hold true with sheer willpower, and then he turned to face his attacker, his back pressed against the wallboards

By the lantern&039;s light he recognized the , when he and the istrate had met Paine at the public stables behind the blacksmith&039;s foundry It was indeed the blacksn of his business, Seth Hazelton The se, with a wet gray brush of hair and a coarse and dripping gray beard His face was as rugged as weathered rock, his nose a hooked precipice at the moment his intense blue eyes were lit with the fire of sheer, white-hot fury, and the knotty veins stood out in relief on his bull-thick neck He paused in his onrush, as if recognizing Matthew as the istrate&039;s clerk, but the respite was only for a few seconds; his face flauish, he hurtled forward again

Mattheas fast when he needed to be He gauged Hazel-ton&039;s swinging blow, ducked under the fist, and ran for the way out The smithy, however, was also quick of foot when it deemed him to be so; he bounded after Matthew like a corpulent hound and caught the boy&039;s shoulder in a grip fashioned hard by the contest with iron Mattheas spun around, two hands set upon his throat, he was lifted off his feet and carried backward to slam once more into the ith a force that near shattered his spine Then the hands began to squeeze with deadly intent

Matthew grasped thehands, but even as he fought he kneas in vain Hazel-ton&039;s sweating face was pressed right into his, the lazed froers were digging deep into Matthew&039;s throat He couldn&039;t breathe, and darkto dance before his eyes He are, strangely, that one horse hinnying piteously and the other was kicking in its stall

He was going to die He knew it In a few seconds, the darkness was going to overcoht here by this blacks hands

This was the ht This was the moment someone should come in and tear Hazelton away from him But Matthew realized it wasn&039;t likely to happen No, his fate would be interrupted by no Samaritan this sorry day

The lantern Where was the lanterni

On his right, still hanging froled his head and eyes and found the la arrasp Desperation gave hith to lurch the two or three extra inches He plucked the hot la Then he smashed it as hard as he could into the side of Hazelton&039;s face

an edge of unsmoothed tin did its work a cut opened across the blacksmith&039;s cheek from the corner of the eye to the upper lip, and crimson rivulets streamed down into his beard Hazelton blinked as the pain hit him; there was a pause in which Matthew feared the er than the desire to preserve his face, but then Hazelton let out a howl and staggered back, his hands leaving Matthew&039;s throat to press against the tide of blood

Matthew sucked air into his lungs His head swi, he half-ran, half-stumbled toward the barn&039;s open doorway The rain was still falling, but not near with its previous velocity Matthew didn&039;t dare to look behind to see if the slance would surely slow him down a precious step Then he was outside the barn The rain hit hied a treeroot that al, but he recovered his balance and ran on into the tuht in the direction of Bidwell&039;s mansion Only when he&039;d reached the conjunction of streets did he slow his pace and look over his shoulder If the blacksmith had followed, he had been left behind

Still, Matthew didn&039;t care to tarry He spat blood into a mud-puddle and then tilted his head back, opened his ain His back and shoulders felt deeply bruised, his throat savaged by Hazelton&039;s fingers He would have quite a tale to tell the istrate, and he kneas daain, walking as fast as he could, toward Bidwell&039;s house

Two questions remained in his mind: what had been in the burlap sacki and what had the blacksmith concealed that he would kill to protecti