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Show 21 •> would be her last chance since she was determined to repent once and for all. She'd already decided to tell the Bishop everything we'd done soon as he got home. There was no fighting the power of the Lord in him. I thought that was absurd but didn't want to expose myself as a non-believer by saying so. If she'd wanted to lose her faith she'd have lost it by now, and I discerned it must somehow be doing her more good than harm. "The Bishop loves the Lord more than me. He's a good Saint and loves nothing more than his God. But you love me more than anything," And there was nothing I could say to that neither, because after all it was true and she knew it. "I thought I didn't need the Lord to be happy, but I was wrong," Sister Hearthway moaned. "Still, it's better to know for sure and pay the price," and then she bent in half and paid a pile of it on the lawn. I wanted to help Sister Hearthway but knew the only help I could give was not to stop her from telling the Bishop what we'd done. I knew the Bishop would fire me and even bar me from his yard the rest of my life. When Aunt Davina heard what hand I'd played in the whole business she'd probably send me back to Tmth and Consequence, and that shamed me. I felt a powerless disappointment in the face of so much justice. I felt like doing something reckless just to spite the forces stacked against me. I cast about the yard and it occurred to me what to do: I would eat the Bishop's fruit. I climbed the terrace to its highest point near the knotty wood fence that cut the yard off from the surrounding earth. There stood the three young fruit trees, cherries, plums, and apples, little more than saplings tied to wooden stakes to support the weight and guide their straight growth. But I was too late. The ground all around the trees fermented with a |