She slipped her arm through mine and I thought: Perhaps I can ask Deborah. Not outright, of course, but perhaps indirectly. After all, she would know what was happening better than most people.

We went up to her bedroom, where Carrie was unpacking. ” Carrie,” cried Deborah, ” where’s the little gift I brought for Mrs.

” Here,” said Carrie without looking at me.

” Carrie hates leaving her beloved moor,” Deborah whispered to me.

She was holding out a small object wrapped in tissue paper. I opened it, and although it was one of the most exquisite things I had ever seen, I was dismayed. For in a frame set with jade and topaz was a delicate miniature of a young girl, her hair falling about her shoulders, her eyes serene.

” Barbarina,” I whispered.

Deborah was smiling down at the lovely face.

“I know how interested you have always been in her and I thought you’d like to have it.”

” It’s a beautiful thing. It must be very valuable.”

“I’m so glad you like it.”

” Is there one of you? I would rather have that.”

My words evidently pleased her, for she looked very beautiful suddenly. “People always wanted to paint Barbarina,” she said. ” Father invited lots of artists to the house—he was interested in the arts—and they used to say: We must paint the twins, and we’ll begin with Barbarina.” They sometimes did; and when it was my turn, they forgot. I told you, didn’t I, that she had something that I lacked. It drew everyone to her—and because I was so like her, I seemed like a pale shadow . a carbon copy, you might say, a little blurred, much less attractive.”

” Do you know, Deborah,” I said, ” you underrate yourself. I’m sure you were every bit as attractive.”

” Oh Favel, what a dear child you are! I feel so grateful to Roc for finding you and bringing you to us.”

” It’s I who should be grateful. Everyone’s been so kind to me … particularly you.”

“I? Boring you with my old photographs and chatter about the past!”

“I’ve found it immensely interesting. I want to ask you lots of things.”

” What’s stopping you? Come and sit in the window. Oh, it is good to be back. I love the moor, but the sea is more exciting, perhaps. It’s so unpredictable.”

“You must have missed the moor when Roc and Morwenna were young and you were looking after them.”

” Sometimes, but when they went away to school I’d go to Devonshire.”

“Did they go to Devon for school holidays?”

” Almost always they were at Pendorric. Then of course Morwenna started bringing Rachel for holidays, and it seemed to be a natural thing that she should come to us every time. Morwenna was extraordinarily fond of her for some reason. And she wasn’t really a pleasant child. She locked Morwenna in the vault, once. Just for fun!

You can understand how terrified poor Morwenna was. She had a nightmare soon after it happened and told me about it when I went in to comfort her. But it didn’t make any difference to the friendship, and when Roc and Morwenna went to France, Rachel went with them. “

“When was that?”

“It was when they were older. They would have been about eighteen then. I always hoped that Morwenna would drop her, but she never did.

And at that time the three of them became very friendly. “

” When they were about eighteen …”

” Yes. Morwenna was anxious to go to France. She wanted to improve her accent; and she said she’d like to go for two months. She had finished at her English boarding school and I was thinking that she might go abroad to school; but she said it would be much better for her to stay in some pension where she would learn the language, by mixing with people, more easily than she ever would at school.”

” And Morwenna went to France for two months.”

” Rachel went with her. So did Roc for a while. I was a bit alarmed at that time. Roc was with them so much and I was beginning to be afraid that he and Rachel …”

” You wouldn’t have welcomed … that?”

” My dear, I expect I’m being rather mean, but somehow I should not have liked to see Rachel mistress of Pendorric. She hasn’t the … charm. Oh, she’s an educated girl, but there’s something I don’t like about her … something I don’t altogether trust. This is strictly between ourselves, of course! I wouldn’t say it to anyone else.”

” I think I know what you mean. “

” She’s too sharp. One gets the idea that she’s watching for the main chance all the time. I expect it’s my stupid imagination, but I can tell you I had some very deep qualms at that time, because Roc was so anxious to see the girls settled in their pension comfortably. And he actually stayed there for a while and went back and forth while they were there. Every time he returned I was terrified that he would announce his intentions. Fortunately it all fell through.”

” It was a long time ago,” I said.

Deborah nodded.

I was thinking. They were eighteen, and the boy could be about fourteen now. Roc is thirty-two.

I had often felt that Rachel had some hold on the Pendorrics. She gave that impression. She was like a person with a chip on her shoulder and yet at the same time there was a certain truculence about her. It was as though she was continually implying: Treat me as a member of the family or else . And she visited the boy who was living with Louisa Sellick! I said:

“I suppose at that time their father was dead … I mean Roc’s and Morwenna’s.”

” They were about eleven when he died. It was six years after Barbarina …”

So the boy was not his, I thought. Oh Roc, why do you keep these secrets from me? There’s no need.

My impulse was to talk to Roc at the earliest opportunity, to tell him what I had conjectured.

When I went to my room I put the miniature on the mantel shelf and stood for some minutes looking into the serene eyes depicted there.

Then I decided to wait a while, to try to find out more about the nature of this web in which I was becoming entangled.

In the midst of this uncertainty Mabell Clement gave a party. When Roc and I drove over, we were both a little subdued; I felt weighed down with thoughts of the boy who lived on the moors, and conjectures as to what part Roc had played in bringing him into the world. I longed to talk to Roc and yet I was afraid to do so.

Actually I was afraid to face up to the fact that Roc might not tell me the truth. I was pathetically eager that he should not lie to me, and at the same time I was desperately trying to keep intact that wonderful happiness which I had known.

As for Roc, he was telling himself that my adventure in the vault had naturally upset me a good deal and that I should need time to recover.

He treated me gently, and reminded me of those days immediately following my father’s death.

Mabell, ear-rings swinging, was a wonderful hostess and there was an informal atmosphere about the party. Several of the local artists were present, for our scenery had made the district an artists’ colony; and I was gratified when one of them mentioned my father and spoke with reverence of his work.

From the other side of the room I heard Roc’s laughter and saw that he was the centre of a group, mainly women. He seemed to be amusing them, and I wished that I was with them. And how I wished that there were no more doubts and that I could escape from my misgivings into that complete and unadulterated happiness which no one on earth but Roc could give to me.

” Here’s someone who wants to meet you.” Mabell was at my elbow and with her was a young man. I looked at him for some seconds before I recognised him.

” John Poldree, you remember?” be said.

“Why yes. The ball …”

Mabell gave him a little push towards me and then was gone. ” It was a wonderful ball,” he went on.

” I’m so glad you enjoyed it.”

” And very sad of course that …”

I nodded.

“There was something I wanted to tell you, Mrs. Pendorric. Though I don’t suppose it matters much now.”

“Yes?”

” It’s about the nurse.”

“Nurse Grey?”

” M’m. Where I’d seen her before.”

” And you remember? ” “Yes. It was something in one of the papers. It came back to me. Then I remembered that I was in Genoa at the time and it wasn’t all that easy to get English papers. Having fixed the date I went and looked up old copies. She’s the one all right. Nurse Althea Stoner Grey, Nurse Stoner Grey, she was called. If I’d heard the double-barrelled name I’d have remembered. But I couldn’t mistake (he face. It’s rarely that you find a face as perfect as that one.”

” What did you find out?”

” I’m afraid I misjudged her. I’d got it into my head that she’d committed some crime. Hope I didn’t give you the wrong impression. All the same it wasn’t very pleasant. She was lucky to have a name like Stoner Grey. She could drop the first part and seem like a different person. After all, Grey’s a fairly common name. Coupled with Stoner, far from it. She lost the case.”

” What was the case, then? ” ” She’d been nursing an old man and he’d left her money; his estranged wife contested the will. It was only a few para graphs and you know how disjointed these newspaper reports can be.”

” When did all this happen?”

” About six years’ ago

“I expect she’s had a case or two in between that and coming to my grandfather.”

” No doubt of it.”

“Well, she must have brought good references to my grandfather, I imagine. He was the sort who would make sure of that.”

” That wouldn’t be difficult with a woman like that. She’s got a way of getting round people. You can see that. She’s pretty hard-boiled, I should think.”

” I should think so too.”

He laughed. ” I wanted to tell you ever since I solved the mystery. I expect she’s far away by now.”

” No. She’s still living fairly near us. She’s taking a little holiday and renting a cottage for a time. My grandfather left her a small legacy, so she probably feels she can afford a rest.”

” Must be a lucrative job—private nursing—providing you have the foresight to choose rich patients.”

“Of course, you couldn’t be sure that they would conveniently die and leave the legacy.”

He lifted his shoulders.

“Smart woman, that one. I think she’d be the sort who’d choose with care.” He had picked up one of the pieces of pottery which were lying about the studio. ” Good, this,” he said.

And for him the subject was closed; but not for me. I could not get Nurse Grey out of mind, and when I thought of her I thought of Roc. I was very quiet during the drive back to Pendorric.

I had noticed a change in Morwenna; there were days when she gave me the impression that she was walking in her sleep; and her dreams seemed to be happy ones, for at times her expression was almost rapturous. She was absentminded, too, and I had on one or two occasions spoken to her and received no answer. She came up to our room one evening when we were changing for dinner. ” There’s something I want to tell you two.”

” We’re all ears,” Roc told her.

She sat down and did not speak for a few seconds. Roc looked at me, his eyebrows raised.

” I didn’t want to say anything to any of you until I was absolutely sure.”

“The suspense is becoming unbearable,” commented Roc lightly. ” I’ve told Charles, of course, and I wanted to tell you two before it became generally known.”

” Are we soon to hear the patter of little feet in the Pendorric nurseries?” asked Roc.

She stood up. ” Oh … Roc!” she cried, and threw herself into his arms. He hugged her and then began waltzing round the room with her.

He stopped abruptly with exaggerated concern. ” Ah, we have to take great care of you now.” He released her and putting his hand on her shoulder kissed her cheek solemnly. ” Wenna,” he said, reverting to his childhood’s name for her, ” I’m delighted. It’s wonderful. Bless you.”

There was real emotion in his voice, and I was touched to see the affection between them.

” I knew you’d be pleased.”

I felt as though I were shut out of their rejoicing; and it occurred to me how very close they were, because Morwenna seemed to have forgotten my existence and I knew that when she had said she wanted to tell us first she had meant she had wanted to tell Roc. Of course, they were twins, and how true it was that the bond between twins was strong!

They suddenly seemed to remember me, and Morwenna immediately brought me into the picture.