"I only wished ..."
"We already know what you wished," croaked the old woman. "Did you not tell carroty Frances that you practised magic?"
"Never, never," assured Lydia weeping.
"What never, and she says, that you showed her a real rose, which you plucked from the stone wreath over the gate."
"Ah, that was only a joke."
"A joke ... we will teach you to make such jokes. How often have you ridden out to the White Stone on a broom?"
"Never, certainly never."
"And to the Auerkopf?"
"Never."
"And never to the hollow Chestnut-tree, Dachsbau, or the Nistler?"