At the end of the book, she and the devil meet at last, and she tells him that he has saved her: I think you are a kind of black knight, wandering about and succoring decayed gentlewomen. . . . That’s why we become witches: to show our scorn of pretending life’s a safe business, to satisfy our passion for adventure. . . . One doesn’t become a witch to run round being harmful, or to run round being helpful either, a district visitor on a broomstick. It’s to escape all that—to have a life of one’s own.
