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I had taken Je hi in his cradle, ca

"‘C’!" chorused two of the Guthrie girls, al heads as they bent to look

"No, no, it’s a ‘J’!"

Appealed to as the resident expert, Mrs Bug bent down, eyeing the strip of red peel with her head on one side, like a robin sizing up a likely wor up, and the group burst out in giggles, turning as one to stare at John Lowry, a young farmer from Woolam’s Mill, who peered over his shoulder at theht a flash of red from the corner of my eye, and turned to see Brianna in the doorway to the hall She tilted her head, beckoning o out, but we couldn’t find the ground salt; it wasn’t in the pantry Do you have it in your surgery?"

"Oh! Yes, I have," I said guiltily "I’d been using it to dry snakeroot, and forgot to put it back"

Guests packed the porches and lined the wide hallway, spilling out of the kitchen and Ja, and I threaded ing greetings as I ducked brandished cups of cider, stovie cruery itself was nearly eh superstition, painful associations, or si the roo in the roo a the bits and pieces I’d left on the counter

He looked up as we entered, s, he had put his coat back on and draped a woolen scarf round his neck; his cloak lay over the stool beside himanay was a tall and handsome dark-haired man; to welcoht brought good fortune to the house for the cou--dark man available, he had been elected to be firstfoot, not only for the Big House, as folk called it, but for those hous and Marsali and the others who lived near had already rushed off to their houses, to be ready to greet their firstfoot when he should cohtful ill luck as a firstfoot, and Jauard of the Lindsay brothers, ere to keep hiht There were no clocks nearer than Cross Creek, but old Mr Guthrie had a pocket watch, even older than himself; this instrument would declare the mystic moment when one year yielded to the next Given the watch’s propensity for stopping, I doubted that this would be h, after all

"Eleven-fifty," Brianna declared, popping into the surgery after me, her own cloak over her arm "I just checked Mr Guthrie’s watch"

"Plenty of tirinned at Bree, seeing her cloak

"Are you kidding? I haven’t been out afterthe cloak around her shoulders "Got everything?"

"All but the salt" Roger nodded toward a canvas bag on the counter A firstfoot was to bring gifts to the house: an egg, a faggot of wood, a bit of salt--and a bit of whisky, thus insuring that the household would not lack for necessities during the co open the cupboard door to search for the salt, I was confronted by a pair of glowing eyes, glaring out of the darkness at rief" I put a hand overthe other hand weakly at Roger, who had sprung up at my cry, ready to defend e fro the rerowled atI meant to snatch this treat forof ground salt out from behind his furry hindquarters

I closed the cupboard door, leaving Adso to his feast, and handed Roger the salt He took it, laying down the object he had had in his hand

"Where did ye get that wee auld wifie?" he asked, nodding toward the object as he put the salt away in his bag I glanced at the counter, and saw that he had been exaiven ," I replied "She says it’s a fertility charm--which is certainly what it looks like It is very old, then?" I’d thought it er’s interest confir

"Very old The ones I’ve seen in museums are dated at thousands of years" He traced the bulbous outlines of the stone with a reverent forefinger

Brianna , I set a hand on her ar her head to smile at me "I shouldn’t touch it? Do they work that well?"

"No, of course not"

I tookrather self-conscious At the same time, I became aware that I would really rather she didn’t touch it, and was relieved when she er was looking at it, too--or rather, he was looking at Brianna, his eyes fixed on the back of her head with an odd intensity I could al, as strongly as I illing her not to