There was a mood of uncertainty in the house. No one was sure what would happen next, and there was a lot of talk behind closed doors. It seemed that Miss Carson had a reprieve. In any event, she stayed.

She did not go to Mrs. Marline’s room after that. Nor did Adeline. The poor girl was spared those terrifying interludes and she knew that Miss Carson had saved her from them.

Adeline was of a loving nature, and, more than anyone she had ever known, she adored Miss Carson. Her face would light up with joy when she set eyes on her; and she would watch her all the time, smiling to herself. I had the notion that Adeline only felt safe and happy when Miss Carson was there.

The doctor was intruding more on my notice. I saw him more frequently.

He had changed so much. He had become more and more interested in our work, which had never seemed to interest him until Miss Carson came.

He used to come to the schoolroom often and ask how we were getting on.

His visits were not in the least alarming. He was always smiling. Miss Carson was proud of Adeline’s progress, for she could read a little now, which she had not been able to do before Miss Carson came.

Adeline would flush with pleasure when Miss Carson said she must read to her papa to show him how clever she had become. And Adeline, a frown of concentration on her face, would open the book and run her finger along the line as she read:

“Three idle ducklings They played beside the pool. The naughty little idle things They ought to have been at school.”

Miss Carson clapped her hands when Adeline lifted her eyes, full of pride in her achievement, and waited to see the wonder on the faces of the onlookers. The doctor joined in the applause; and Adeline was very pleased with herself, and so happy.

I wondered whether the doctor was thinking what I was, which was how different Miss Carson was from Mrs. Marline.

Then he would ask how Estella and I were getting on, and Miss Carson would show him our work.

“Good. Good. This is excellent,” he would say, looking at Miss Carson.

“I thought of starting them in French,” she said one day.

“What a capital idea!”

“I could do my best…”

“Which I am sure would be very good indeed,” said the doctor; and he smiled benignly at us all, including Miss Carson.

There was no doubt that he at least approved of her, and I often thought how happy the household would be if it were not for Mrs. Marline.

Henry came home from school. He had become very friendly with Lucian Crompton and often went to the Grange. Camilla was at school, too, and when she came home, we were invited to tea. She told us hair-raising stories of school life which made Estella envious, but I would not have changed Miss Carson for any excitement and reckless adventure.

A new year had come, and the atmosphere at Commonwood House seemed to be changing further. I could not exactly say what it was. The doctor was different. I often heard him laughing. Even when he emerged from Mrs. Marline’s room, and she had been upbraiding him fiercely, he did not have that depressed and frustrated look which I remembered from the past. Often I heard him humming a tune from one of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas which lots of people were singing at that time. That was something he would never have done in the past.

Then Mrs. Marline was having more bad days. We could not help welcoming these, because Dr. Everest came and gave her a sedative which made her drowsy and silence reigned on the ground floor and the servants did not have to listen for those perpetually clanging bells.

Miss Carson seemed happy. Her pleasant face was radiant and she looked quite beautiful. Not as Zingara was, but with what I can only say was some inner light.

Adeline was happy. She went round singing to herself:

“Twinkle, twinkle, little star, How I wonder what you are.”

Whenever I hear that, I am transported back to those days, and I realize, of course, that they were the prelude to the storm which was about to break and submerge us all.

But we were all very happy during that time. Even Estella did not sigh for school.

I noticed that the servants were constantly whispering together, and that the whispering stopped abruptly when any of us children appeared.

Something was happening. Vaguely I wondered what.

The top floor of Commonwood House consisted of attics odd-shaped rooms with sloping ceilings. That was where the servants slept. The nursery was just below on the third floor. Here was the schoolroom and our bedrooms mine, Adeline’s, Estella’s, Henry’s, and Nanny’s and Sally’s, of course. Miss Carson’s was on (he second floor, and on the first floor was the master bedroom which had once been occupied by Dr. and Mrs. Marline and which was now the doctor’s alone.

I don’t know why I should have awakened on that night, but I did.

Perhaps it was due to the gibbous moon which was shining right through my window on to my bed. I opened my eyes and looked at it. It seemed very near.

Then suddenly I heard something. It was like a door being shut. I immediately thought of Adeline. Her room was close to mine. Miss Carson had said we must be watchful of Adeline and always make her feel she was just like we were . never imply that she was different in any way.

I got out of bed and quietly opened my door. All was silent, and there was no sign of Adeline. I saw that her door was shut. I told myself I had imagined that I had heard something. Perhaps I had been dreaming.

Then I heard a sound from below. I looked over the banisters and saw Miss Carson. She was walking stealthily along the corridor towards the stairs, as though she were eager to make as little noise as possible.

She descended to the next floor and walked along the corridor until she came to the master bedroom.

Then, quietly, she turned the handle and went in.

I was amazed. Why did she want to see the doctor at such a time? Could there be something wrong with Adeline? But she must have come out of her bedroom and gone straight down to him. I could not think she had been to Adeline’s room.

I waited a while. Nothing happened. Minutes went by and the door of the master bedroom remained shut.

I was very young and I did not fully understand what this must mean.

Of course, later, so much became clear to me.

There was something different about Miss Carson. At times she would sit staring into space as though she could see something which was invisible to the rest of us. Her face would be gentle and beautiful and touched with a kind of wonder. Then one of us would say something which would bring her out of her dream. She was as kind to us as ever.

Moreover, there was something secretive going on in the house. It seemed to please and amuse Nanny Gilroy, although it was something she disapproved of. But then, I had discovered that she was often pleased about certain things, particularly if they were what she called shocking, as when the baker’s wife ran off with a travelling salesman, which she declared was downright wicked as she sat and smirked and said the baker’s wife would come to a bad end, which was no more than she deserved. She seemed highly gratified about that. I had never been the least bit fond of her, but now I disliked her more than ever.

One day Miss Carson told us that she had to go away to see someone and she would be away for a few days. When she left, Adeline was in a panic. She was terribly afraid that her mother would send for her and whenever we were on the ground floor she would keep close to me and hold my hand.

When Miss Carson returned after a week’s absence, Adeline clung to her more than ever.

“Don’t go away,” she kept saying.

Miss Carson looked as though she were going to cry.

She hugged Adeline tightly, and said: “I never want to go away, darling. I want to stay here for ever with you and Carmel, Estella and For ever and ever I want to stay.”

It was September. Lucian and Camilla, who had been home for the holidays, would soon be going back to their schools. Lucian was still kind to me, although he was so much older. He always took notice of me and would chat with me. Estella was not very pleased about that, which made me doubly appreciative of his attention. She was fond of Lucian and always trying to get him to talk to her.

The weather had turned hot and sultry. Tom Yardley said there was thunder in the air. In fact, we heard the occasional rumble of it now and then. Looking back, I think of that as being symbolic of what was about to happen in Commonwood House.

Mrs. Marline had been a little better, and for the last few days Tom Yardley had wheeled her chair out through the trench windows to a shady spot in the garden where she would sit reading or dozing.

On that particular day, Lucian and Camilla came to Commonwood and we all had tea in the drawing-room on the ground floor. As Mrs. Marline was in the garden, we did not have to worry about making too much noise.

Lucian always led the conversation; he was older than Henry, and seemed mature to all of us, so we respected him and when he talked we listened without interrupting.

He had been reading a book about opal mining in Australia, which had clearly fascinated him, and he was telling us about the stone. Adeline was present. She always wanted to take part in whatever was going on, and Lucian always included her.

“They are fantastic,” he was saying with that enthusiasm which he always showed for something which interested him and which made one share his pleasure in it.

“Just imagine searching for them and then coming across some wonderful specimen. The colours are magnificent.

They glow in reds and blues and greens. That’s why they call them black opals. There are the milky sort, too. They are found somewhere else. My mother has a black opal. She doesn’t wear it much. She keeps it with other jewellery in the bank. “

“People say they are unlucky,” said Camilla.

“That’s why our mother keeps hers in the bank. She thinks the bank will get the bad luck instead of her.”

“She does not!” laughed Lucian.

“She keeps it there for safety. It’s very valuable.”

“My mother has an opal,” said Henry.

“It’s in a ring. She wears it sometimes.”

“Perhaps that’s why she had an accident,” said Camilla, determined to pursue her bad luck theory.

“Nonsense,” said Lucian lightly.

“How could a stone be unlucky? People just say they are unlucky because they chip easily. You know how these stories start. People exaggerate and then you get superstitions. I’d like to see your mother’s ring.”

“It’s been in the family for a long time,” said Henry.

“It’s in her jewel case.”

“She doesn’t wear it very often,” said Estella.

“Of course, it will be mine one day. The opal has little diamonds round it.”

Lucian went on to tell us how they mined for opals, sorting them out and cutting them to the shapes they wanted. He said how strange it was that they were only found in certain places.

When we had finished tea. Henry said he wanted to go into the village to get something for his bicycle and Lucian was going with him.

Adeline said: “Will you come back here?”

“I expect so,” said Lucian.

We took Camilla up to the schoolroom and played guessing games which Camilla said the girls played in the dormitory after lights out.

Just before the boys had left, Mrs. Marline had come in from the garden. But after a while she had apparently decided that, as it was such a fine day and she was feeling better, she would like to go out there again, so Tom Yardley wheeled her out and the house was peaceful again.

Lucian and Henry had not returned. I expected they had gone off somewhere. We all walked back to the Grange with Camilla. Mrs. Marline was still in the garden.

I went up to my room and soon after the trouble started.

It was on the ground floor and I went down to see what it was all about.

Adeline was in great distress. She was seated on the floor in her mother’s bedroom with the drawer of the bureau upside down beside her and its contents scattered around. Apparently she had opened it and it had come right out. She had dropped it and it now lay upturned on the carpet. Finding herself in such a position, Adeline could think of nothing to do but cry for help, hoping that one of us, preferably Miss Carson, would come in and help her emerge from this situation before her mother discovered she had been in her bedroom and meddled with her bureau.