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Or maybe that was just Jane Her sweet face, heart-shaped because of the ’s peak to her lustrous dark hair, the deep shade of her skin, the lines of her slireen, the way she smiled at him--above all, the way she smiled at him--

Don’t think of it, he told hi the Godly, the only group hoh they were not currentlywith the church, due to his erous flirtation with the heresies of Anne Hutchinson, his father knew they could regain that acceptance and respectability Jane never would She traveled about with her father, an itinerant merchant who peddled his wares up and down the coasts of the colonies They certainly were not overnor allowed them and their kind to be in Massachusetts at all

Ru the Puritans, this was beyond redemption--far worse than the heathenism of the Natives elled nearby

But Balthazar could not see sin eh they had only ever spoken at ht well of him, too The way her eyes lit up whenever she saw him made the whole world seem to row up, and Mareen, too," Charity said "Green dresses, green caps, green aprons, even green shoes Every day"

"You’d look like an asparagus"

His little sister stuck out her tongue "A beautiful asparagus" He jokingly swatted at her, so she dashed ahead, beyond his reach

Charity ht There her dreaht have been seen merely as eccentricity, or even creativity Their e by their annual letters, ht have hter’s behalf

Instead, here she was looked at as peculiar at best, wicked at worst He’d heard the occasional ominous whisper--witch--but he suspected her troubles would be far h only fourteen years old, Charity was already widely considered uneable, even in a country where men outnu and sewing--were tooattention, to h the grass, sun painting her fair curls with light as she whipped off her cap, beautiful not in spite of her strangeness but because of it

I will always have to look out for her, Balthazar thought It wasn’t a new realization, but the weight of it felt heavier so down faster ahead of hi in the leather of his boots; they orn thin, and really they’d beento do, and so the toes of the boots were too tight Might his father consider using the extra wampum to buy him so

He heard Charity laughing and saying so--it wasn’t unusual for her to talk to herself

But this far from the road, it was odd to hear someone else reply

Balthazar rose to his feet and hurried over the hill, where he saw Charity standing beside a wagon driven by two people--a man and a woman--neither of as known to them They must have come to market, but he hadn’t seen them there; two people like this would have stood out, dressed in brilliant colors, the woman’s hair loose and free like a sers were rare in this part of the world, the only part Balthazar had ever known; perhaps that hy he became suspicious so quickly He hurried down to Charity’s side

"You would look enchanting in green," said thethe reins He was a handsome man, and Balthazar would’ve known it even without Charity’s adoring gaze to guide him His hair, his skin, even his eyes all seeold, and he had a fine, patrician profile His clothes seemed well made, and the new, uncracked leather of his boots shone "Ah, and who have we here?"

"My older brother, Balthazar More" Charity went up on tiptoe to confide, "He’s not as strict with me as my parents"

"Then perhaps he will not mind an introduction," said the blond-haired woman, whose locks would have looked lustrous if she had not been sitting next to the strangely dazzling man Perhaps they were brother and sister as well She was beautiful in her statuesque way, but there was so avid about the way she looked at Balthazar It was the way some of the ruder irls just leaving childhood whose skirts were not yet fully long He hadn’t knoomen could look atat hiht have liked it But she wasn’t Jane

"Good day to you, sir," Balthazar said, turning his attention to the er to make friends"

"Hoise of her," the ood friends indeed Don’t you agree, Constantia?"

"Oh, I do," Constantia whispered, leaning past Redgrave’s shoulder to peer at Balthazar again, the sunlight catching her hair--