“But a better way is to make a figure of cotton with hands and feet, head and mouth, wrap it up with the shroud of a dead man and then pierce the head and the heart with five thorns. Pretty soon the victim will fall sick of the stomach and his heart will rot and—may God have mercy on his soul!” Nestor chuckled. “A very pretty way it is, too! That was probably the method they tried on Josefa. Lucky you had me to counteract it!”