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her expression was strangely calm. Allan hesitated as she held up a hand to warn him.
    ‘Harriet,’ he stammered. ‘Come back to bed. Come with me. Oh, my dearest, take my hand. Let me hold you. Let me care for you. You shan’t die.’
    For a moment it looked as if she would comply. Her lips parted in a travesty of a smile and then she glanced down at her ravaged body.
    ‘Come to me, Harriet,’ he repeated gently. ‘All will be well, I swear it. Don’t run away from me.’
    She looked up and he saw that tears glinted in her eyes. ‘I’m ugly,’ she said simply. ‘The tokens are ugly — I must wash them away.’
    Allan took a step towards her and held out a hand. ‘I shall wash them away for you,’ he said. ‘Come back to the house and we shall make you clean. You will be pretty again, I promise.’
    With her hands, she brushed at the blood on her breasts then raised her fingers to look at them curiously. Allan took another step towards her and she glanced up at him with a strange smile on her face. ‘I’ll wash them away,’ she repeated. ‘Aye, that’s it. I’ll wash them away.’
    Only ten yards separated them, but before Allan could shorten the distances she turned suddenly and stumbled down the steps. As he ran after her, he heard the splash as she went into the river and when he reached the bottom of the steps he saw her standing waist-deep in the water. She was splashing water up over her body and she glanced up at him with a crazed expression. She flung wide her arms and laughed. Then the laughter died in her throat, her arms fell slowly to her side and she looked at him with sad eyes.
    ‘Oh dear God!’ cried Allan, plunging into the water, struggling to reach her before she collapsed. As he reached her she closed her eyes and fell lifeless into his arms.
    *
    It was past midnight when Harriet’s body was finally laid in the straight wooden coffin which rested on two trestles in the bedchamber she had shared with Allan for so short a time. Maria and Melissa had laid her out and now stood beside her, looking down into the sweet face, perfectly composed in death. The long white robe hid the lacerated body and white chalk successfully concealed the dark spots on her face. A white bonnet covered her soft brown hair and her eyes were closed and long lashes fringed her smooth cheeks. The candlelight was kind to her.
    ‘She was a bonny girl,’ said Melissa. ‘She looks so serene now. Allan will feel better when he sees her this way.’
    Maria sighed heavily. ‘Poor Allan. He took it very hard. When I found them he was sitting on the steps, cradling her on his lap. He was talking to her — trying to reassure her that she was still beautiful. Her head was against his shoulder and her hair was wet. I thought she was still alive.’
    ‘Poor little girl.’
    Maria put out her hand and gently stroked Harriet’s cheek. ‘Still downy, this poor little face. Allan used to call her his little swan.’ Her lips trembled and she turned to Melissa. ‘If only I knew where he had gone. He was so strange. At first he would not part with her body but carried it into the house and sat in the bedchamber with her. I thought she would — I thought her limbs — ’ She broke off and Melissa nodded without speaking. ‘I thought we must take her from him but I couldn’t find the words. My head ached from the fall and I felt sickly. Then Hugo came back — ‘twas a mercy he did. He argued with Allan and then he — Allan — laid her on the bed and ran out of the room. He rode off, no one knows where. Oh Melissa, he looked so strange.’
    ‘Tis natural enough,’ said Melissa. ‘Such a terrible shock, poor lad.’
    ‘But Allan is — ’ she hesitated, biting her lips, afraid to put her fears into words.
    ‘He’ll be back, you’ll see. He’ll ride out his grief and return to us.’
    ‘I hope so. Jon said he rode like one possessed.’
    ‘He’ll be back,’ Melissa’s tone held conviction.
    ‘I hope I