They lapsed again into an easy silence between people who have secrets together. Then she sat up, her eyes troubled.
“Was I pregnant when I died? I feel so detached from myself referring to Elizabeth as I, but that seems to be the only way to speak of her now.”
“Yes,” he said sadly, “you were.”
Sarah nodded. He saw her cringe as if the memories were coming back, her bulging belly, the trials of working for two, feeling the life inside her dwindling as her own life ebbed away. “What happened after I died?” She laughed. “What an odd question.”
“A few weeks after you died the executions stopped. Increase Mather gave a sermon called Cases of Conscience Concerning Spirits that brought the witch trials to an end. He said it would be better to set some witches free than to condemn even one in
