* * * *
It was many more days before Katkin felt completely recovered. She spent a great deal of time in bed, alone, for Huw slept now in the spare room, though it was the one in which he had been tortured. Poppy rarely spoke to her, and Katkin found her only solace was the company of the baby, Gwillam, who seemed happy to lie on the bed with her for hours, as long as she gave him his toys to play with. Katkin assumed that once she was well again, things in the Brunner house would gradually return to normal. Indeed she soon had the place clean and tidy again, and the children’s clothes washed and mended. But though she tried to cook Huw’s favorite dishes to tempt his appetite, he continued to eat only sparingly. Several times she found him in the barn, sitting silently, staring into space
