Daughter of Satan by Jean Plaidy

then?’ he said. And he continued to look at her. Then he seemed to rouse himself from his thoughts; he was haughty and dignified again. ‘Take her into the house and give her some food,’ he said. ‘Give her some clothes too.’
    â€˜I can’t have those rags in the house, sir,’ declared Mistress Alton. ‘She should strip outside and put on what I can give her there.’
    He shrugged his shoulders. ‘See that she has all she wants to eat.’
    Tamar lifted her eyes to his face; she was completely fascinated by his clothes, his voice and his manners.
    He looked at her again. He said: ‘Yes, it was good of you to think of bringing me the eggs. Come to the house when you are hungry. Mistress Alton will always give you food when you need it.’
    He continued to look at her while a faint smile touched his mouth. Then he turned and went away.
    â€˜Don’t dare set foot in this house,’ said Mistress Alton. ‘Don’t dare bring your bugs in here. Go round to the back andI’ll throw something out to you. You take those rags away with you when you go.’
    And so, Tamar, as her mother had done when she first came to the house, stripped outside and put on the clothes which were given her. She was a new Tamar now; the clothes were too big for her, but that did not matter, for they were fine good clothes.
    Then she was allowed to sit on a stool outside the back door when Moll handed her a bowl of soup.
    She had never before had such a glorious adventure,’ and all the time she ate, occasionally letting her hands stroke the rough worsted of her gown, she thought of Richard Merriman, of his beautiful voice and his rich clothes; and then it seemed to her that he had looked at her in an odd fashion, as though he, like others, realized that there was something strange about her.
    Tamar was just past fourteen when Simon Carter the witch-pricker came to Plymouth.
    The old Queen had been dead a year now and a new King had come from Scotland to rule the English and the Scots. Tamar knew this because she never lost an opportunity of listening to the gossip in the streets. She would stand close to men talking outside taverns; she would lie on the Hoe where the seamen gathered, and listen to their talk, keeping her face turned away so that they might not recognize her for the Devil’s daughter.
    She learned that it was a good thing that they had this James to rule them, for now that the two countries were united under him there would be no more trouble between them. He was a learned man – people were beginning to call him the British Solomon – and, being a fervent believer in the powers of witchcraft, he had determined to do all he could to drive it from his realm.
    There were many witches in Scotland, it seemed, as well as in the North of England – far more than there were in the South – and on the continent of Europe there were more than in England and Scotland together. Witches had had an easy time in England compared with their lot in other countries.In their allegiance to the Devil, they denied the Holy Church of Rome and were considered heretics, the greatest criminals of the day. In Catholic countries there was one death only for heretics – the faggots to follow torture.
    Tamar heard terrible stories of what happened to witches in other countries and she was glad of that shining strip of Channel which separated her native land from them.
    The new King, it appeared, had undeniable evidence of bold witches who had dared work against his own person and that of his Queen. These witches had all but succeeded in drowning Queen Anne when she had set out from Denmark for her marriage to the Scottish King. Twice the Queen had attempted the journey and, just as she was within a few miles of the Scottish coast, a tempest had arisen and blown her squadrons on to the coast of Norway. When the disaster had been repeated, one of her captains admitted