” Most unseasonable,” commented Roc. ” You’ll have to wait a few months yet, Lo.”

” I can’t. I can’t. I want a ghost story—now!”

“It certainly is time you were in bed,” commented Mor

Lowella regarded me with solemn eyes.

“It’ll be the Bride’s first Christmas with us,” she announced. ” Shell love Christmas at Pendorric, won’t she? I remember last Christmas we sang songs as well as telling ghost stories. Real Christmas songs. I’ll tell you the one I like best.”

“’ The Mistletoe Bough’,” said Hyson.

“You’d like that. Bride, because it’s all about another bride.”

“I expect your Aunt Favel knows it,” said Morwenna. ” Everyone does. “

” No,” I told them, ” I’ve never heard it. You see, Christmas on the island wasn’t quite like an English Christmas.”

“Fancy! She’s never heard of ” The Mistletoe Bough’. ” Lowella looked shocked.

” Think, what she’s missed,” mocked Roc.

“I’m going to be the one to tell her,” declared Lowella. ” Listen, Bride! This other bride played hide and seek: in a place …”

” Minster Lovel,” supplied Hyson.

“Well, the place doesn’t matter two hoots, silly.”

” Lowella,” Morwenna admonished; but Lowella was rushing on. ” They were playing hide and seek and this bride got into the old oak chest, and the lock clicked and fastened her down for ever.”

” And they didn’t open the chest until twenty years later,” put in Hyson. ” Then they found her—nothing but a skeleton.”

“Her wedding dress and orange blossom were all right, though,” added Lowella cheerfully.

” I’m sure,” said Roc ironically, ” that must have been a comfort.”

” You shouldn’t laugh. Uncle Roc. It’s sad, really. ” ‘ A spring lock lay in ambush there ‘,” she sang. ” ‘ And fastened her down for ever’. “

” And the moral of that,” Roc put in, grinning at me, ” is, don’t go hiding in oak chests if you’re a bride.”

” Ugh!” shivered Morwenna. ” I’m not keen on that story. It’s morbid.”

” That’s why it appeals to your daughters, Wenna,” Roc told her.

Charles said: “Look. I’m going up. The twins ought to have been in bed hours ago.”

Deborah yawned.

“I must say I find it hard to keep awake.”

” I’ve an idea,” cried Lowella. ” Let’s all sing Christmas songs for a bit.

Everyone has to sing a different one. “

“I’ve a better idea,” said her father.

“Bed.” Rachel stood up. ” Come along,” she said to the twins. ” It must be nearly two.”

Lowella looked disgusted with us because we all rose; but no one took any notice of her, and we said good night and went upstairs.

The next day I went over to Polhorgan to see how my grandfather was after all the excitement.

Mrs. Dawson met me in the hall and I congratulated her on all that she and her husband had done to make the ball a success. ” Well, madam,” she said, bridling, ” it’s a pleasure to be appreciated, I must say.

Not that Dawson and I want thanks. It was our duty and we did it. “

” You did it admirably,” I told her.

Dawson came into the hall at that moment, and when Mrs. Dawson told him what I had said, he was as pleased as his wife. I asked how my grandfather was that morning.

” Very contented, madam, but sleeping. A little tired after all the excitement, I think.”

” I won’t disturb him for a while,” I said. ” I’ll go into the garden.”

” I’m sending up his coffee in half an hour, madam,” Mrs. Dawson told me.

” Very well then. I’ll wait till then.”

Dawson followed me into the garden; there was something conspiratorial about his manner, I thought; and when I paused by one of the greenhouses he was still beside me.

” Everyone in the house is glad, madam, that you’ve come home,” he told me. ” With one exception, that is.”

I turned to look at him in astonishment, and he did not meet my eyes.

I had the impression that he was determined to be the good and faithful servant, dealing with a delicate situation because this was something I ought to know.

“Thank you, Dawson,” I said. ” Who is the exception?”

” The nurse.”

” Oh?”

He stuck out his lower lip and shook his head.

“She had other notions.”

“Dawson, you don’t like Nurse Grey, do you?”

” There’s nobody in this house that likes her, madam … except the young men. She being that sort. There’s some that don’t look beyond a pretty face.”

I thought it was the usual story of a nurse in the house who was determined to establish the fact that she was superior to the servants. Probably Nurse Grey gave orders in the kitchen, which they did not like. It was not an unusual situation. And now that they knew I was Lord Polhorgan’s grand daughter, they regarded me as the mistress of me house. This was the Dawsons’ way of telling me I was accepted as such. “Mrs. Dawson and I have always felt ourselves to be in a privileged position, madam.

We have been with his lordship for a very long time. “

” But of course, you are,” I assured him.

” We were here, begging your pardon, when Miss Lilith was at home.”

” So you knew my mother?”

“A lovely young lady, and, if you’ll forgive the liberty, madam, you’re very like her.”

” Thank you.”

” That’s why … Mrs. Dawson and I … made up our minds that we could talk to you, madam.”

” Please say everything that’s in your mind, Dawson.”

” Well, we’re uneasy, madam. There was a time when we thought she would try to marry him. There was no doubt that was what she was after. Mrs. Dawson and I had made up our minds that the minute that was decided on we should be looking for another position. “

” Miss Grey … marry my grandfather?”

” Such things have happened, madam. Rich old gentlemen do marry young nurses now and then. They get a feeling they can’t do without them and the nurses have their eyes on the money, you see.”

” I’m sure my grandfather would never be married for his money. He’s far too shrewd.”

“That was what we said. She could never achieve that, and she didn’t.

But Mrs. Dawson and I reckon it wasn’t for want of trying. ” He came closer to me and whispered: ” The truth is, madam, we reckon she’s what you might call. an adventuress. “

” I see.”

” There’s something more. Our married daughter came to see us not so long ago…. It was just before you came home, madam. Well, she happened to see Nurse Grey and she said she was sure she’d seen her picture in the paper somewhere. Only she didn’t think the name was Grey.”

” Why was her picture in the paper?”

” It was some case or other. Maureen couldn’t remember what. But she thought it was something bad.”

“People get mixed up about these things. Perhaps she’d won a beauty competition or something like that.”

” Oh no, it wasn’t that or Maureen would have remembered. It was something to do with the courts. And it was Nurse something. But Maureen didn’t think it was Grey. It was just the face. She has got the sort of face, madam, that once seen is never forgotten.”

“Did you ask her?”

” Oh no, madam, it wasn’t the sort of thing we could ask. She would be offended, and unless we’d got proof, she could deny it, couldn’t she?

No, there’s nothing we can put a finger on. And now you’ve come home it doesn’t seem the same. His lordship’s not so likely to get caught—that’s how Mrs. Dawson and I see it, madam. But we’re keeping our eyes open. “

” Oh … it’s Mrs. Pendorric.”

I turned sharply to see Althea Grey smiling at me, and I flushed rather guiltily, feeling at a disadvantage to have been discovered discussing her with the butler. I wondered if she had overheard anything. Voices carried in the open air.

” You don’t look as if you’ve been up half the night,” she went on. ” And I’m sure you must have been. What an evening! Lord Polhorgan was absolutely delighted with the way everything went off.” Dawson slipped away and I was left alone with her. Her hair, piled high beneath the snowy cap, was beautiful; but I wondered what it was that made her face so distinctive. Was it the thick brows, several shades darker than her hair; the eyes of that lovely deep blue shade that is almost violet and doesn’t need to take its colour from anything because it is always a more vivid blue than anything else could possibly be? The straight nose was almost Egyptian, and seemed odd with such Anglo-Saxon fairness. The wide mouth was slightly mocking now. I felt sure that even if she had not overheard our conversation, she knew that Dawson had been speaking of her derogatively.

It was a face of mystery, I decided, a face that concealed secrets; the face of a woman of the world, a woman who had lived perhaps recklessly and had no desire for the past to prejudice the present, or future.

I remembered that the young man with whom I had danced had mentioned something from the past too. So Dawson’s suspicions were very likely not without some foundation.

I felt wary of this woman as I walked with her towards the house. ” Lord Polfaorgan was hoping you’d come this morning. I told him you most certainly would.”

” I was wondering how he felt after last night.”

” It did him a world of good. He enjoyed feting his beautiful granddaughter.”

I felt that she was secretly laughing at me, and I was glad when I was with my grandfather and she had left us alone together.

It was a week later mat there was a call in the night. The telephone beside our bed rang and I was answering it before Roc had opened his eyes.

” This is Nurse Grey. Could you come over at once? Lord Polhorgan is very ill, and asking for you.”

I leaped out of bed.

” What on earth’s happened?” asked Roc.

When I told him he made me slip on some clothes, and, doing the same himself, said: ” We’ll drive over right away.”

“What’s the time?” I asked Roc, as we drove the short distance between Pendorric and Polhorgan.

” Just after one.”

” He must be bad for her to ring us,” I said. Roc put his hand over mine, as though to reassure me that whatever was waiting for me, he would be there to share it. As we drove up to the portico the door opened and Dawson let us in. ” He’s very bad, I’m afraid, madam.”

” I’ll go straight up.”

I ran up the stairs. Roc at my heels. Roc waited outside the bedroom while I went in.

Althea Grey came towards me. ” Thank God you’ve come,” she said.

“He’s been asking for you. I phoned as soon as I knew.” I went to the bed where my grandfather lay back on his pillows; he was quite exhausted and I could see that he was finding it difficult to get his bread.

“Grandfather,” I said.

His lips formed the name Favel; but he did not say it. I knelt by the bed and took his hand in mine; I kissed it, feeling desolate. I had found him such a short time ago. Was I to lose him so soon?

” I’m here, Grandfather. I came as soon as I heard you wanted me.” I knew by the slight movement of his head that he understood. Althea Grey was at my side. She whispered: ” He’s not in pain. I’ve given him morphia. He’ll be feeling the effect of it now. Dr. Clement will be here at any moment.”

I turned to look at her and I saw from her expression that his condition was very grave. Then I saw Roc standing some little way from the bed. Althea Grey moved back to where he was and I turned my attention to my grandfather.

” Favel.” It was a whisper. His fingers moved in mine, and I knew that he was trying to say something to me so I brought my face nearer to his.

” Are you there … Favel?”

“Yes, Grandfather,” I whispered.

“It’s … good-bye, Favel.”

” No.”

He smiled. ” Such a short time…. But it was a happy time … the happiest time … Favel, you must be …” His face puckered and I bent nearer to him.

” Don’t talk, Grandfather. It’s too much of an effort.” His brows puckered into a frown. ” Favel … must be … careful…. It’ll be yours now. Make sure …”

I guessed what he was trying to tell me. Even when he was fighting for his breath he was preoccupied with his money.

” It’s different …” he went on, ” when you have it…. Can’t be sure can never be sure…. Favel … take care….”

“Grandfather, please don’t worry about me. Don’t think about anything but getting better. You will get better. You must….” He shook his head. ” Couldn’t find …” he began; but his battle for breath was too much for him; his eyes were closing. ” Tired,” he murmured. ” So tired. Favel … stay … be careful…. It’s different with money. Perhaps I was wrong … but I wanted … be careful. I wish I could stay a while to … look after you, Favel.”