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But if a huency had been responsible for Fanny Beardsley’s disappearance--why had they left the child?

Or, perhaps, brought it back?

I sniffed deeply to clearthe air from different quarters Birth is a hly familiar with the ripe scents of it The child in s, but I could detect no trace at all of blood or birth waters on the chilly wind Goat dung, horse ood whiff of ca else

"Right, then," I said aloud, gently jigglingrestless "She went away froive birth Either she went by herself--or soo But if someone took her and saw that she was about to deliver, ould they have bothered bringing you back? Surely they’d either have kept you, killed you, or simply left you to die Oh--sorry Didn’t inning to thaw fro in its world It had relinquishedwith encouraging strength by the tioat’sthis into a makeshift teat, he dipped it in thecloth into the open hed with relief as the noise stopped

"Ah, that’s better, is it? Seas, a bhalaich, seas," Ja more milk I peered down at the tiny face, still pale and ith vernix, but no longer chalky, as it suckled with deep concentration

"How could she have left it?" I wondered aloud "And why?"

That was the best argu; what else could haveoff on foot into a darkened wood i birth, heavy-footed and sore, her own flesh still torn and oozingI gri in sympathy

Jamie shook his head, his eyes still intent on his task

"She had some reason, but Christ and the saints only ken what it is She didna hate the child, though--she ht have left it in the wood, and us none the wiser"

That was true; she--or someone--had wrapped the baby carefully, and left it as close to the fire as she could She wished it to survive, then--but without her

"You think she left willingly, then?"

He nodded, glancing at me

"We’re no far from the Treaty Line here It could be Indians--but if it was, if someone took her, why should they not capture us as well? Or kill us all?" he asked logically "And Indians would have taken the horses Nay, I think she went on her own But as to why" He shook his head, and dipped the handkerchief again

The snoas falling faster now, still a dry, light snow, but beginning to stick in randoreorse It seeo, with no attempt to determine the fate of Fanny Beardsley

The whole situation seeh the wo this se It res; fairy offspring left in the place of human babies I couldn’t fathom what the fairies could possibly ith Fanny Beardsley, though

I kneas futile, but turned slowly round onceThe clay bank loorass The trickle of a tiny stream ran past a little distance away, and the trees rustled and sighed in the wind There was no y needles, and no hint of any trail The woods were not at all silent, ith the wind, but dark and deep, all right

"Andback to Jah

"Eh? Ah, no, it’s no more than an hour’s ride to Brownsville," he assuredup at the white- faster "I ken where we are, now it’s light"

He coughed again, a sudden spashtened, and handed me the cup and duan while I tend the beasts, aye?"

Sgaogan A changeling So the air of supernatural strangeness about the whole affair had struck hihosts; perhaps one of them had come for her? I shivered, and cradled the baby closer

"Is there any settlement near here, besides Brownsville? Anywhere Mrs Beardsley o?"

Jamie shook his head, a line between his brows The snow melted where it touched his heated skin, and ran down his face in tiny streaht that I ken," he said "Is the wean takin’ to the goat’s hed He looked puzzled, but one side of his mouth turned up nonetheless--he wanted humor just nohether he understood the joke or not

"That’s what the Americans call--will call--children," I told him "Kids"