"If Beetle had known any prayers, she might have prayed for the cat. If she had known about soft sweet songs, she might have sung to him. If she had known of gentle words and cooing, she would have spoken gently to him. But all she knew was cursing: "Damn you, cat, breath and live, you flea-bitten sod, or I'll kill you myself.'"
Chapter Two, The Cat, pg. 9

"Often she called Beetle in when it was over to clean out the soiled straw bed and wash the linen while Jane Sharp and the new mother sipped fever-few and nutmeg brewed in hot ale, and once she sent the girl back to the cottage to brew black currant syrup to fight a new mother's fever. Beetle began to think perhaps she was kept out not because she was stupid, but to keep her ignorant of the midwife's skills...