“I never asked her that question.”
“You have eyes and observation. Didn’t you ask yourself that question?”
“Maybe I did.”
“What then?”
“I have nothing to say anent it.”
“What was she talking about? You know, Isobel, that Sophy is kin of mine, and I loved her mother like my own sister. So I be to feel anxious about the little body. I’m feared things are not going as well as they might do. Madame Braelands is but a hard-grained woman.”
“She is as cruel a woman and as bad a woman as there is between this and wherever she may be.”
“Isn’t she at Braelands?”
“Not for a week or two. She’s away to Acker Castle, and her son with her.”
“And why not Sophy also?”