You were a stupid girl. Stupid and naive. There was no other explanation for this.

You had no mother or father, you were living in the country with your stepbrother who didn't care about you and his ill-tempered wife. You were too eager for your own good to get away from this life. So, like a fool, you jumped into the arms of the first man who said he would marry you.

The scoundrel had left you the moment he got what he wanted. When it was revealed that you had lost your innocence, you were practically abandoned by the entire town.

You were ruined. What could you do? You had no money, no one to take you in.

Only one possible way came to your mind: you went to Old Man Errol in desperation, offering yourself as a wife. Errol John Withlow was an old widower and he kept to himself. He must have been lonely after his children got married and left home, and you thought he wouldn't reject a young woman despite her bad past.

And you were right. He had married you silenty, without any objection, in front of his own house, in the presence of only the priest and God.