I told him it was.

"Christobel must take you round the neighborhood. It is a very beautiful part of the country—but perhaps we think so because it is our native heath. However, Christobel should certainly show you some of our beauty spots. The Quantock Hills are a delight, and she should take you to Bridgwater and Taunton and most certainly to Sedgemoor. On Sedgemoor you can see for miles— the Quantocks to the south and the Bristol Channel to the north, and the Mendip Hills. There will be plenty for you to see."

"It sounds delightful," I replied. "I shall look forward to it."

"I have plans for her," said Christobel.

Sir Harold, who did not appear to have been listening to this conversation, said suddenly: "You must visit the church in Crantock close by here. It is a beautiful old place. It is sad that it is no longer used for the celebration of the true faith."

Kirkwell said that he had work to do and should get back to it. He had high hopes of restoring the barns and they were going to be very useful when they could be put to the use for which they were intended.

We left with him.

Christobel said to Kirkwell: "He has not changed."

"No, he becomes more and more immersed in his religion and of course, is becoming obsessed. He thing: the return to Rome. I do not like it. I am a little ^..s.^. Father Greville has spent a great deal of time about here." He shrugged his shoulders, 'if only our father would have other interests. The estate, for instance"

Christobel sighed. By this time we had descended to the hail and there laid out v^^as a flask of wine with some oat cakes.

Carrie appeared.

"I thought you would like something to refresh yourselves with. We do not want the young lady to think we do not know how to look after our guests."

She smiled at me. I liked her. I had been a little depressed by the old man and his constant references to God.

The wine was fruity and the cakes were good. I liked Kirkweil. and I thought how different he and Christobel were from their father.

I suppose it was because they regarded me as a child that they talked freely before me.

"Is it improving?" asked Christobel earnestly.

Kirkweil smiled. *T think I may say it is. It is a great challenge. Chris. But things are beginning to work out a little to our advantage. Crops were quite good this year on the home farm. I've been able to take on a new man.''

"Oh, that is good news."

"He is quite a good worker. He does all sorts of odd jobs, which is what I need. He has firm religious beliefs."

"He should get on w^ll with Father."

"Alas, his are on the opposite side. He is one of the old Puritans, I think. In any case, he is a firm Protestant. He is very disturbed that the King might die and the Duke of York become King, in which case he might bring back the Catholic rule. He is quite fierce. I avoid getting into conversation with him. I saw him give Father Greville quite a murderous look the other day. He '.va^ ra>^:r.g outside the house when Father Greville had been visiting."

"Oh, dear. I'll look out for him. What is his name?"

"Isaac Xapp. He is quite a good worker. I think I was lucky to find him."

"Kirk. I am so glad things are getting better. Do you think you are going to save the old place so that we do not have to lose it?"

"I am determined to. But we are forgetting Mistress Kate," he said. He turned to me. "Christobel has probably told you about the troubles we are having here. In any case, it must be obvious. You see, everything here has been rather neglected. Our grandfather was a gambler and that was not good for the place. Our father is no gambler, but he never had any great interest in it. He ought to have gone into the Church. That is why we talk about it so much."

I said: "But you are going to put that right."

He laughed. "Mistress Kate, I like you. I like you very much. You believe in me, do you not? That is what I say: I am going to make it right. And I shall."

He smiled at me in such a friendly fashion that I felt very happy.

Soon after that we left and we rode back to the Dower House. I had been very interested to meet Christobel's family.

There was much to claim my attention during those first days at the Dower House. It was managed with the utmost efficiency by Isabel Longton, who kept her two maids, Daisy and Annie, in the same good order as she did the house. She gave no indication that this was not the most conventional of households.

My half-brother Luke was as interested in me as I was in him. He was intrigued by my theatrical background and wanted to hear more about my mother and Maggie and the house in London.

He told me his mother had been a companion to Lady Rosslyn. When Luke's existence was discovered, our father had set her up in a house in Bridgwater, where Luke had been born. He remembered her with sadness. She had been gentle and beautiful, according to him. When he was only five years old, he had come into the house and found her sitting in a chair, staring ahead of her. She did not speak to him. In fact, she never spoke to him again. She had had a heart attack and died a few hours after he found her.

He remembered that day as the blackest in his life.

He looked very sad, even as he told me, and I could picture that poor bewildered child who had lost the one he cared for most in the world. It was worse because he could not understand what had happened. Someone told him she had gone to stay with the angels and he had wanted to know why she had not taken him with her. She had always taken him everywhere before. And when would she come back? He was frightened and even angry with her for leaving him.

"For the next five years I lived on a farm. There were other children. I thought I was dead and had descended into Hell. And then I began to understand what had happened.

''I was a serious boy, I think. I suppose that, with that having happened, one might become serious. There were other children on the farm—the children of the farmer and his wife. It v^-as not that they were unkind to me, but I knew I was not one of them. I was the outsider. While I was on the farm my father came to see me once or twice. I know now that he kept a watch on me, but he did not often come to see me. I did not know he was my father then. He seemed a very important gentleman, and when he came there was always a great deal of fuss on the farm. Everything was polished and the best they had brought out. I suppose the money for my keep was important to them.

"Then one day he came when I was nearly ten years old, so I must have been at the farm for five years or so. He said to me, 'You're not happy here, boy, are you?* He called me boy, never Luke. He was different from everyone I had ever known. He was so important, so grand. He did not speak as we spoke. I think it was my maimer of speaking which made him act as he did. *You must be educated, boy,' he said. *You can't go through life like a farm laborer.' He was very thoughtful. He looked at me in an odd way. and I thought I had annoyed him. And then he laid his hand on my shoulder and reassured me. I was not sure what it meant, but I soon discovered. Shortly after that I was brought to the Dower House, and Roger came."

"You were happier then?" I said.

He smiled. "There was much to make me so. I was not the outsider any more. Life was very different and I began to learn something about myself. In time I discovered that Lord Rosslyn was actually my father. I learned to read and write with Roger, and it was like a new world opening for me. My father came now and then to see me. He was pleased with the change in me, I saw that, and I determined to improve myself. Oh yes, it was a change for the better, I can tell you. And when I saw Rosslyn Manor and I realized that the owner was my father, I was so proud. I loved the place. I became friendly with James Morton, the agent who looks after the estate. I was constantly trying to see him. He must have found me something of a nuisance. I used to get him to talk about the estate and all the things that had to be done. Now and then I would ride with him and I wished beyond everything that, instead of being born to my mother, I had been Lady Rosslyn's son—then that great estate would be mine. Then I thought of my mother and how dearly I loved her, and how my life was plunged into unhappiness after that time when I lost her forever. I can see her face now ... and when I compare it with that of Lady Rosslyn ..."

"You have met her, then?"

"I have seen her. She is proud and haughty and I could not imagine her loving the boy I was, and I felt disloyal and ashamed."

"It is natural, of course," I said. "But is it not an amazing thing suddenly to discover you have a sister? It is for me to find I have a brother."

"It's exciting, and I am glad you are my sister."

"And I am glad you are my brother."

"And all these years we did not know it. We could have met in the street and passed each other by."

And so we talked and in a few days it seemed as though we had always known each other. He introduced me to the countryside and used to ride out with Christobel and me, and we were almost always accompanied by Roger Camden.

Luke took us over to the Rosslyn estate. There was no rule that we were not to venture there. I supposed Lady Rosslyn would not be very pleased to see us there, but it was hardly likely that we should meet her. Nevertheless, I thought a great deal about her. She must be a very unhappy lady. It was not her fault that she had failed to provide the necessary heir; but the deficiency clearly lay with her, for here were Luke and myself to prove that her husband was quite capable of getting healthy children. How she must resent us!

I had been at the Dower House three days when my father came.

Christobel and I had been riding. We had had a very pleasant time. We had called at Featherston and had spent a merry hour with Kirkwell and the agent from Rosslyn Manor, who happened to have called.

Kirkwell told us that he had been consulting James Morton about some problems.

"He is the expert," said Kirkwell.

"More years of experience," explained James Morton modestly.

"But," added Kirkwell, "I am learning."

"And doubtless will surpass me one day."

I liked the agent. He was about twenty-eight years old, I suppose, a good ten years older than Kirkwell, but he was not in the least boastful of his superior knowledge.

"I am so glad he and Kirkwell have become such good friends," Christobel said as we rode awm-.

As soon as we arrived at the Dower House, Mistress Longton's manner told us that something had happened. She came hurrying out to tell us: "His lordship is in the sitting room. He has been waiting for ten minutes."

Christobel tried to look unconcerned, but did not manage it very well.

She said: "Well, if he had warned us that he was coming we should not have been out."

"It's Mistress Kate he'll want to see. Best get in there without delay, my dear."

He had been standing at the window, looking out, so he would have seen us arrive.

"Ah, Kate," he said. "Have you enjoyed your ride?"

"Yes, thank you."

"Come. Sit down. I would speak with you."

I sat down and he pulled up another chair so that he was close to me.

"You look well," he said. "I believe the country life suits you."

"Everyone has been very kind," I said.

"Mistress Longton assures me that you are happy here. And you are continuing with your lessons under the guidance of Mistress Christobel?"

"Oh yes, indeed."

"That is well. You will be safer here. London is not a good place to be in at the moment."

"Have you seen Maggie?"

"I have. And I assured her that you have arrived safely and will write to her and tell her what you have found here. I hope you will give a good report of us."

"Oh yes."

"And thanks to Mistress Christobel, you can write a good hand." He looked at me earnestly. "I hope that you are going to be happy here. What think you of your brother?"

"I like Luke very much."

"A good boy. Ambitious ... I like that. Perhaps it is good ... but perhaps not. That remains to be seen. I gather you are exploring the countryside?"

"Yes."

"And you have been to Featherston?"

"Yes, we have just returned from there."