" The third house had a man living alone. He told her three times over supper that his wife had died and how lonely it was for him, and tried twice to touch her hair. His lower lip trembled when he talked. Gerta offered to sweep the porch, left a copper on the step to pay for her supper, and slipped away. I may have spent the last seven months under a spell, she thought grimly, but I’m not a total fool.   "

― T. Kingfisher , The Raven and the Reindeer