Chapter 41 Summary

"About the Witch"

Martha Clay, an inhabitant of the Fens, is described as a witch. Mary and Tom decide to go to her to end Mary's pregnancy, as she is reputed to have strong, seemingly supernatural powers. Tom casts the pregnancy as a part of a progression in history - The French Revolution, the First World War, the bombing of Germany - this pregnancy was "our own end of the world to face."

As Mary is bleeding from her own imperfect efforts to abort, they arrive at Martha Clay's cottage, set in a remote part of the Fens. Mary is described as a very small woman, with a compelling face, her cheeks described as bladders of fire, and small moist eyes. Tom Crick is struck by the intense smell of the cottage, and the sight of her huge forbidding dog.

The Cottage is...