'That's as may be, but she'll pay a high price for the privilege of bein' the devil's lady."

Sophy sat on the wooden bench in front of Old Bess's cottage and carefully wrapped the last of the dried fenugreek in a small packet. She added it to the little bundle of herbs she had just finished selecting. Her supplies of such essentials as garlic, thistle, nightshade, and poppies in various forms had been growing low.

"That should do me for the next couple of months, Bess, she announced as she dusted off her hands and rose to her feet. She ignored the grass stain on the skirt of her old blue worsted riding habit.

"Ye be careful if ye need to make up a cup o' poppy-head tea for Lady Dorring's rheumatism," Bess cautioned. "The poppies came in real powerful this year."

Sophy nodded at the wrinkled old woman who had taught her so much. "I'll remember to cut back on my measurements. How is everything with you? Do you need anything?"

"Nary a thing, child, nary a thing." Bess surveyed her aging cottage and herb garden with a serene eye as she wiped her hands on her apron. "I have everythin' I need.

"You always do. You are lucky to be so content with life, Bess."

"Ye'll find contentment one o' these days, if ye truly seek it."

Sophy's smile faded. "Perhaps. But first I must seek other things."

Bess regarded her sorrowfully, her pale eyes full of understanding. "I thought ye'd gotten past yer need for vengeance, child. I thought ye'd finally left it in the past where it ought to be."

"Things have changed, Bess." Sophy started around the corner of the small, thatch-roofed cottage to where her gelding was waiting. "As it happens, I have been given a new opportunity to see that justice is done."

"If ye had any common sense, ye would take my advice and forget it, child. What's done is done. Yer sister, rest her soul, is gone. There's naught ye can do for her now. Ye have yer own life and ye must pay attention to it." Bess smiled her gap-toothed smile. "I hear there be a somewhat more pressin' matter for ye to consider these days."