Weyward

Kate’s bank balance is dwindling. All the money she hoarded from her tiny allowance is nearly gone, and she must do something to support herself. Initially, she decides to cultivate the garden in the backyard to scrape together enough vegetables to feed herself and the baby. As she sets to work, a crow watches from a nearby tree. Armed with Violet’s copy of The British Gardener, Kate educates herself on what is growing in her garden. There are root vegetables, greens, and herbs. As she works in the dirt, a damselfly lands on her briefly. Kate then notices that worms and other insects seem to be drawn to her, too.

Determined to understand the legacy of witchcraft in the Weyward line, she drives to Lancaster to check the county records. While Elizabeth’s death is recorded, the details are vague as to the cause. Kate then learns that Altha Weyward stood trial for witchcraft in 1619, but her fate is unknown. After returning from Lancaster, Kate goes to Emily’s shop and asks for a job as her assistant.

Altha is sure that she will be condemned when the judge summarizes the case and asks the jury for its verdict. Unbelievably, she is acquitted.

In the weeks after Frederick leaves, Violet keeps to her room. Graham thinks she is pining for their useless cousin. However, Violet is planning a drastic course of action. One night, when everyone is asleep, she prepares to jump from her window and fall to her death. She writes a suicide note to explain her actions.

Before Violet can go through with the deed, Graham walks into her room, demanding a textbook that she borrowed from him. After Graham leaves, Violet reconsiders her options. She couldn’t bear to leave Graham alone with their abusive father, so she stashes her suicide note in a copy of Grimms’ Fairy Tales and thinks no more about it. Shortly afterward, her nanny notices that Violet has been vomiting up her breakfast each morning. Suspicious, the nanny decides to summon the local doctor.

It is now November, and Kate is able to feel the baby kicking. Emily asks about the father, but Kate evades her questions. She doesn’t want to ruin their friendship. Kate thinks back to a friend’s wedding she attended five years earlier. It was the last time she saw her friends before Simon cut her off from everyone she knew.

By December, Kate is happily settling into her new routine at the cottage, though she occasionally fears that Simon will find a way to track her down. One day at the shop, she finds a box for her labeled “Orton Hall.” The lord of the manor has been sent to a nursing home, so the box’s contents are hers.

After her trial, Altha is released. One of the jurors is a kind man who slips her a pouch of gold coins. He explains that a healer once saved his wife’s life, but she was hanged as a witch later. Altha reflects, “I looked inside the pouch and saw gold coins. I understood, then, that I had this man—or the woman who saved his family—to thank for my life” (201).

Altha returns to her cottage, which has been vandalized by local villagers. Fortunately, her goat and one chicken survived, so she will have milk and eggs to feed herself. After setting her dwelling back to rights, Altha is determined to write down the story of her trial and what led up to it.

The doctor comes to examine Violet and says that she is pregnant. Her father is furious and tells the servants that Violet is going away to a sanatorium to be treated for a nervous condition. In reality, she is being sent to live at Weyward Cottage until she delivers the baby. Frederick tells Lord Rupert that he intended to marry Violet all along, but they couldn’t wait to consummate their union. Satisfied with this explanation, Violet’s father intends to force his daughter to go through with the wedding. Still, he rebukes her, saying, “I should have known. You are your mother’s daughter, after all” (210).