A White Night--Molly Dawson

To be completely honest, I had an incredibly hard time following this story.  I'm still not entirely sure what is going on, so this post, might be a little scattered.  Essentially, I think the story is about some travelers who come upon a monastery or a church.  They inadvertently end up watching a ceremony in which a woman is put to death.  She has obviously committed some sort of sin for which she must be punished.  The oddest part to me is how they just watch as she is tortured and do not do anything to intervene.  I realize that they were not supposed to be there and they didn't know the full extent to what was going on but still, I think I would have a hard time, idly standing by watching someone be purposely hurt.