“I believe you doubt my word,” he insisted.

” I believe what you say to be true, but is it not a little embarrassing even impertinent to test the theory on toe present company?”

” You’ll discover that I’m a blunt Yorkshireman; and they are not noted for their tact.”

” Why speak of the future? I have already made the discovery.”

I saw the smile touch his lips again; I thought it rather a brutal smile. He enjoyed baiting me because I was a worthy opponent. At least I had the satisfaction of knowing that, even if he did consider me a fortune-hunter, he did not find me a simpering one. I came to the conclusion in that moment that he had a grudging admiration for me, partly because he believed I had endeavoured to catch Gabriel, as he would put it, and had achieved my object. There was a ruthlessness in him which would always admire success.

I said impulsively: “You are Gabriel’s cousin, or second cousin, are you not? Yet how unlike him you are! You are absolute opposites.”

He gave me that cool, appraising smile again. I was telling him that I did not like him; and he was retaliating by implying that I would not have caught him as I had caught Gabriel. As if I should have wanted to! As if there had been any ” catching ” in our marriage!

” Talking of faces,” he said, ” you’ve looked at the gallery. What a splendid example of the revelations of physiognomy. You can see old Sir John who went on fighting for his King to the fury of Cromwell. He lost us the Revels for a while, that one. You can see his obstinate idealism in his face. Then there’s Sir Luke, the gambler who nearly gambled away our inheritance. And then there’s that other Luke, and John … the suicides. If you look long enough you can read their histories in their faces. Take that Luke, for instance. You see the weakness of the mouth. You can imagine him, finding life too difficult and standing there on the west balcony, and suddenly … over …”

I realised then that the others at the table had become silent and were listening to Simon.

Sir Matthew leaned forward and patted my arm. ” Don’t listen to my nephew,” he said. ” He’s telling you about our disreputable ancestors.

Simon’s annoyed because he’s a Rockwell on the distaff side . and the Revels is not for him. “

I saw that inscrutable gleam in Simon’s eyes and said:

” I dare say you have a pleasant residence of your own.”

” Kelly Grange!” Sir Matthew almost spat out the words. ” The Redvers family were always jealous of the Revels.” He pointed to Simon. ” His grandfather married one of my sisters but she wouldn’t stay away from the Revels. She was always coming back and bringing first her son, then her grandson, with her. Don’t see you here so often now, Simon.”

” I must remedy that,” said Simon; and he was smiling ironically at me.

There was a deep chuckle from Sir Matthew which seemed to shock the vicar and his wife.

So the conversation progressed and, in spite of my dislike of my neighbour at the dinner table, I was a little sorry when it was over;

I enjoyed a battle, and I was enjoying mine with him although it was merely one of words. I told myself that I particularly disliked those people who were ready to be critical before they knew the truth. I was sure Simon Redvers was one of these.

After dinner the ladies retired to the drawing-room and I tried to get to know Damaris; but it was not easy; she was pleasant, but so reserved that she made little effort to help with the conversation, and I decided that a blank mind lay behind that lovely face. I was pleased when the men joined us; and when Simon Redvers kept at Damaris’s side rather to the chagrin of Luke I was glad and gave myself up to conversation with the vicar, who told me how the grounds of the Revels were used for the church annual garden party and that he and his wife were trying to arrange to do a miracle play or pageant in the Abbey ruins next Midsummer Night’s eve. He hoped that I would support his endeavours, and I told him that I should be delighted to do all I could.

It was shortly after dinner that Sir Matthew was taken ill He lay back in his chair, his face a deeper purple than usual. Dr. Smith was immediately at his side, and with the help of Simon and Luke took Sir Matthew to his room. The incident naturally broke up the party, but when Dr. Smith rejoined us he told us that Sir Matthew would be all right. He was going back to his home for leeches. Sir Matthew always insisted on being bled in such a manner as his father had before him.

” He’ll be about again in a day or so,” the doctor assured us before he left.

But the party spirit had gone and we sat on talking desultorily.

When Gabriel and I retired it was about eleven-thirty. He put his arms about me and told me that I had been a success and he was proud of me.

” I’m not sure that I was very popular with everybody,” I said.

” Who could fail to be charmed?”

” That cousin of yours for one.”

” Oh, Simon! He was born a cynic. He is jealous. He’d throw away Kelly Grange for the Revels any day. You wait till you see the Grange.

It is not half the size of the Revels- it’s an ordinary old manor house.”

” I don’t understand why his desire for the Revels should affect his attitude to me.”

” Perhaps he’s jealous of me for more reasons than one.”

“How absurd!”

At that moment Friday ran to the door and began barking furiously while he leaped at the door as though he would break it down.

” What on earth’s the matter with him?” I cried.

Gabriel had turned pale. ” Someone’s out there,” he whispered.

” It’s evidently someone Friday doesn’t like.” I turned to Friday. “

Be quiet, Friday.”

But Friday for once ignored me; he continued to bark and jump frienziedly up at the door.

I picked him up and opened the door.

“Who’s there?” I called.

There was no answer, but Friday was struggling out of my arms.

“Something has disturbed him,” I said.

“I’m going to put him on his lead. I don’t want him jumping over the balcony.”

Still holding him I went back to the room for his lead and slipped it on; and when I set him down he tugged at it with all his might.

He dragged me along the corridor, but before we reached the balcony door he leaped at another to the left of it. I tried this and it opened easily. It was a large empty cupboard, and Friday ran into it and began sniffing around.

I opened the balcony door, and there was no one on the balcony either.

” You see, Friday,” I said. ” It’s nothing. What is it that’s bothering you?”

I returned with him to the bedroom. Gabriel had his back to me as I entered the room. When he turned I saw how pale he was; and a terrible thought came to me then: he was afraid of what was out there and he had let me go alone. Was the man I had married a coward?

It was a horrible thought which I discarded almost as soon as it entered my head.

” Much ado about nothing,” I said lightly.

Friday appeared completely to have satisfied himself ; when I took him off the lead, he leaped into his basket and curled up there.

As I prepared myself for bed I wondered what Gabriel had been so disturbed about.

Then I remembered the conversation at dinner and I asked myself whether Gabriel had thought it was a ghost prowling out there. The balcony certainly had a morbid attraction for him.

But in a house like this fancies came easily.

It was late during the next afternoon when I discovered that Friday was missing. I remembered then that I had not seen him since the morning.

It had been a busy morning, for the guests of the previous night all paid duty calls to give conventional thanks.

I saw Simon Redvers ride up on a magnificent grey horse, and I decided to stay in my room until he had left; I did not see him leave and was afraid that I should find he was staying to luncheon; however, when I went down he had gone. Dr. Smith and Damaris had ridden over in his brougham-the doctor to see how Sir Matthew was after his attack, Damaris to pay her duty call. With all the guests arriving it seemed like a continuation of the party.

It was just before dinner when I began to be anxious about Friday’s absence. / Dinner was a solemn meal that evening and there was little conversation. Sir Matthew was still in his room and I guessed that everyone was worried on his account although they assured me that such turns were frequent.

When the meal was over and there was still no sign of Friday, I was really alarmed. I went up to our room; his basket, with the folded blanket, was neat and had clearly not been used by him. Was it possible that he was lost?

I wondered if he had been stolen, and when I thought of the ill-treatment he had received at the hands of the gipsy woman I felt sick with worry. It was possible that there were gipsies not far from Kirkland Moorside, for the moor was always an attraction to them.

I slipped on a light coat and went downstairs, intending to ask Gabriel to come with me to look for him, but as I could not find him I went out alone, calling Friday as I did so.

I found my footsteps wandering towards the Abbey. At any other time I might have found it awe-inspiring; on this evening my thoughts were all for Friday.

I kept calling his name, straining my ears for an answering bark.

There was nothing.

It was an uncanny experience to stand there among those ruins . alone.

It had been a glorious day and there were signs of a fine day to follow. The old saying came into my head: Red sky at night, shepherd’s delight.

Then suddenly the fear came to me. I felt that I was not alone; that through those narrow slits, which had once been windows, eyes watched me. The glow from the sky touched the stones so that they looked rosy; and the ridiculous fancy came to me that life was being breathed into them.

I did not know what had happened to me, but I expected to hear the chanting of monks as they walked down the nave. I felt my heart hammering as I looked up at the arches through which I glimpsed the blood-red sky. I imagined that somewhere, not far distant, I heard a stone dislodged and, following that, a footstep.

” Who’s there?” I called; and the hollow sound of my own voice startled me.

I looked about me. There was nothing but those piles of stones, those half-walls, those rectangles of brick within which the grass grew. Here a community of men had lived long ago and I could almost believe that I was moving back in time, that the half-walls would become walls in their entirety, that a roof would appear to shut out the sky and this nineteenth century.

I began to call Friday again, and I noticed that it had become considerably darker than when I had first entered the ruins. Evening skies change rapidly, and the red was now streaked with grey. The sun had disappeared and soon darkness would descend upon me . and the Abbey.

I tried to leave by the way I had come at least I thought it was the way I had come, but after a few minutes I realised that I was in a section of the ruins which I had not visited before. I saw part of a staircase, leading down to darkness;

I turned and hurried away; I tripped over a ridge of stone and only saved myself in time. I had a horrible fear of breaking an ankle and being forced to spend the night here . a prisoner. I began to feel faint at the thought of it.

This was most unlike myself. What is this? I demanded. Nothing but bricks and grass. Why be afraid? But what was the use? I was afraid.

I blundered on. My one thought, my great desire, was to escape from the ruins of Kirkland Abbey.

It was only now that I had lost my way that I became fully aware of the vastaess of the place; and there was a time during that nocturnal adventure when I thought I should never find my way out of the maze of stone. With every passing second the light was fading and I was so anxious to get away from the place that I panicked and lost my sense of direction.

At length when I did escape I came out on the far side of the Abbey and it was now between me and the house.

Nothing would have induced me to go back the way I had come, which would have been difficult in any case, for I should have lost myself in that pile of stones. I ran on swiftly until I found a road. This I took and, guessing my direction, I hurried on, now and then breaking into a run.

As I came to a clump of trees through which the road wound, a figure emerged and for a moment I knew terror. Then it took on a familiar shape and a voice I knew said: