you said yourself. what mere man could have downed the belltower?
has he not come out at all?
returning to the western woods?
use caution.
as my husband says, a wife should be always like an echo, and at the same time, quite unlike an echo. like an echo, she should speak only when spoken to, and unlike an echo, should never try to have the last word, or, at least that is what he believes.
doctor, he is awake.
no. she has gone out.
she has taken the last of our grain to be milled. you do have a background in the medical arts, don't you, constable?
will you look at this? i cut my hand this morning: i sewed it myself, but i am afraid it will go bad.
look closer. do you have anything to clean it with?
i know you saw me.
i know you followed last night. you must promise not to tell baltus.
have mercy on me. please.  have mercy.
am i? or, are you and young masbath dead along with me?
and, quite beautifully done, wouldn't you say? it is almost over.
he rides tonight.
he saw me thrown.  saw the horseman looming over me as i fled. things i wanted him to see. but, as long as i govern the horseman, he cannot harm me. baltus did not stay enough to see that. he ran as a coward, unfettered by my fate.
the precious servant girl sarah. i killed her and kept her body hidden, till i needed it. and, when i return to the hollow tomorrow, my version of the truth will come to pass. i mean, there i was that fateful day, following baltus into the woods. i did not know what he was up to.  where he was going. i worried for his safety.
imagine my surprise, finding him on a liason with a common servant. a girl who had apparently become his secret love.
this whore will see your mouth shut forever very soon. but.  i am not going to kill you. not me.
he will have that honor.
woe is me.  that spying on my husband in his filthy indiscretion, i saw he and sarah attacked by the horseman. oh pity me.  so overcome was i that i wandered in the western woods.  dazed.  nearly blind from terror.
and, tomorrow is my grand performance, having barely survived the elements.  by sheer luck i found my way back to the hollow. but.  what do i find here.  ? my dear, sweet step-daughter katrina is dead. why has god forsaken her?
no one will suspect this sad woman who has been through such an ordeal. with only the empty solace of her money and land to comfort her.
you've been a naughty girl.
little bitch.
run, katrina! fast as your pretty legs will carry you. it makes no difference.
nothing will stop him now!
olly-olly oxen-free!
should have stayed away, constable.
keep back, or i kill her.
see him.
you cannot kill what is already dead.
yes.  yes. i think i will.
say goodbye to her.