"So," I said, "if I should wish to see it again ..."

Arnulf smiled at me.

"Tell me where you live," I said. "Is it far from here?"

He shook his head.

"I'll take you home," I said. "I tell you what, you can all ride on my horse and I'll walk beside you. How's that?"

They all nodded gleefully. Arnulf carefully put back the bench he had drawn to the door in order that he might look through the shutter, and we went out and he locked the door.

The three children sat on my horse and we were on our way. I was not surprised when Gisela came to the door of the cottage, but she was. "Why," she cried, "it's Fraulein Ayres."

Arnulf suffered a moment's apprehension when he realized I knew his mother.

I said quickly, "Well, fancy the children's mother being you. We met in the forest. We talked and I offered them a ride home."

Her plump face was creased in smiles.

"Well, you have had a good morning," she said. "And the twins too."

I lifted them down. Arnulf showed his superiority by needing no help.

"I think," said Gisela, "that we must ask Fraulein Ayres if she would care to have some refreshment."

"Oh yes please, Mutti," cried Arnulf, and the twins nodded vigorously. It was pleasant to know that they had taken a fancy to me as I had to them.

I tethered the horse and we went into the cottage, which was small but exceptionally clean. We sat at a table and Gisela poured some soup into platters. It was rather like that which I had sampled on my arrival at Daisy's house and we ate rye bread with it.

I said, "This is very good of you. I was wondering whether I should return to the town and go to the inn for something to eat."

"Did you see the hunting lodge?" she asked. "This is the road to it, you know."

There was a moment's silence at the table while three pairs of eyes watched me anxiously to see if their owners would be betrayed.

"It's the rather palatial place about half a mile from here, is it not?"

"That's it. This is in the nature of being the lodge cottage. Part of the royal estate. Arnulf and I had to look after the place. Those duties go with the cottage."

"Arnulf is my father," the young Arnulf explained. "It's not me. I'm named after him."

"I see," I said.

Gisela smiled at Arnulf and at me. She was a very motherly woman and I liked her more than ever.

"You took the twins with you," she said to Arnulf. "Where are the others?"

"Gisela wouldn't come with us."

"And the others are with her, I suppose." She smiled at me. "They love playing in the forest and Gisela won't let them go too far. Arnulf, go and call in the others."

Arnulf went out and the twins followed him rather reluctantly, I thought. They were torn between the habit of following their elder brother and staying to study the stranger.

Gisela said, "They keep me busy, but when the elder ones look after the small ones it makes life easier."

"You must have a great deal to do ... your own house ... your children ... and the hunting lodge."

"I only go there two or three times a week now. In the old days it was different. There were people there then. They would have parties too. It was one of the Baron's favourite places."

"The one who was murdered?"

"That's right."

"He was there with ..."

"Yes, his lady friend. She was a very beautiful young woman."

"Did you know her?"

"Why yes, I was up there ... looking after the place, and when there was all that trouble she was living there. He used to come when he could. They were very much in love. It was such a shame."

"Was she there very long?"

"Quite a long time. You see, he couldn't very well set her up in the town. The Grand Duke would not have allowed that."

"But if they were married—"

"Oh, there was nothing of that. Rudolph had had his ladies before ... but this one seemed ..."

"Seemed what?"

"Well, rather different. She was a lovely lady, kind to the servants, always laughing. We all liked her and it was a blow to us when it happened. There's a lot of rivalry here among the various noble houses, you know."

I was growing tremendously excited. This had been a rewarding morning. Not only had I visited the scene of the crime but I was actually talking to someone who had known Francine well.

"I did hear there was a child," I began tentatively.

She stared at me in amazed horror. "Where on earth could you have heard such a tale!"

"I—er—heard it," I replied lamely.

"Since you have been here?"

"N-no. There was something about the murder in the English papers."

"Did they mention a child then?"

"It was some time ago ..."

"Yes, a few years. But a child! I'm surprised about that."

"Well, you would know ... living here."

"Oh yes, I should have known. I must say I'd rather we didn't have to look after the place now. It always seems a bit ghostly nowadays. Of course it was always dark and rather damp in the heart of the forest as it is, and now being shut up."

"Do you think it will be used again?"

"In time, I daresay. In a while all this will be forgotten. I reckon when the Grand Duke dies and Sigmund takes his place, there will be changes."

"Do you think that will be a good thing?"

"We should all be sorry to see the old Grand Duke go. He's been good for the country. Sigmund ... ? Well, he's a bit of a puzzle at the moment. He has a certain fascination ... well, Rudolph had that. They've got good looks and charm, the whole family. There's no doubt about that. When Sigmund marries the young Countess I should think he will probably settle down."

I wasn't interested in the future. It was the past which obsessed me. I took my leave with many thanks and Gisela requested that I call again and meet the rest of her family very soon.

I said I would.

Eventually I took the horse back to the inn with the promise that I would hire it again.

I was extremely satisfied. It had been a rewarding day.

After having made such a good start and got, as I thought, so far within a few days of my arrival, I was due for a disappointment.

I told Daisy about my encounter in the forest and how I had found the lodge and Gisela's cottage. Yes, she said, Gisela had what they called the hunting cottage and she kept an eye on the hunting lodge. She was a busy woman and they didn't have a lot of time to see each other, but they did whenever they could.

I said, "Daisy, you must have seen my sister when you visited Gisela."

"No, I didn't visit her when your sister was here. It was only when young Hans was born that we got the cottage and became neighbours. Before that I was up at the slosh and that's a good way from the forest."

"Two or three miles, I suppose."

"That would be about it, and there wasn't much call for me to go her way or her to come mine. It's only since I've lived here."

"It was strange that I should meet the children like that."

"A bit of luck, though. I daresay Gisela would have shown you round if she'd been there. I can see it's upset you, seeing all that. What good does it do? Come to think of it, what good is it going to do if you find out who murdered her?"

"There are two things I want to discover, Daisy. And those are: Was she really married and the whereabouts of her child."

Daisy shook her head. "These barons don't marry like that. It's all arranged and there was no mention of a child."

"But Daisy, Francine told me in her letters. She told me she was married and where the ceremony had taken place. I went to the church and saw the entry in the register ... and then when I went again it wasn't there. She told me she had a little boy, Rudolph. She wouldn't have made that up."

Daisy was thoughtful: "She might," she said. "Think of the shock it would be to her, for I reckon she thought he was going to marry her and then when she found he couldn't, she started to dream up what might have been. You know Miss France. She was one to look on the bright side of things, and if it didn't work out right she'd want to believe it did."

"But I tell you I saw the entry."

"But when you went again you didn't see it."

I realized she thought I was a little like Francine. If things were not what I wanted, I imagined they were so strongly that I believed what I wanted to.

A week passed, and I had got no further. I had hired the horse on several days and ridden into the forest. It was no use just looking at the hunting lodge. That would not get me very far. I explored the town; I sat in the Biergarten. People talked to me now and then because I was a stranger, I supposed. They gave me directions as to how to see the best of the country. There was one subject I wanted to discuss but I dared not do that too frequently. The information I gleaned was always the same. Rudolph had been murdered by some political enemy and his mistress with him because she happened to be on the spot. There was never a mention of a child.

I visited the hunting cottage and gave the children rides on the horse. I talked to Gisela over rye bread and hot soup, for there always seemed to be a cauldron of it bubbling on the open fire in the living room. I met the other children: Gisela, Jacob and Max. Max was the baby and about two years old. Jacob was older than the twins and came somewhere in between Arnulf and Gisela. It was interesting and enjoyable, but I had a sole purpose and I was getting restive.

Daisy noticed it.

"Well, I don't know what you think you're going to find out," she said. "I reckon the secret's in higher circles than you'll find here. It's not in the forest, that's for sure. It's up there somewhere, I reckon. The answer will be with them up at the slosh."

"I do wish I could find out."

"Well, you won't get an invitation to the slosh by telling them you're Miss Philippa Ewell, sister of the dead lady, who's come to sort out the mystery. That's for sure."

She was right and the thought depressed me.

Then, just as I was beginning to despair and to feel that I had been foolish to hope just because of my initial success, I had an amazing stroke of luck.

It came through Hans.

I was sitting in the little garden with Daisy, and young Hans was running round on the small patch of lawn, taking water from a bucket and attempting to water the flowers which grew round the border. Daisy and I were laughing at his antics, for Hans himself got more water than the flowers, but he was so delighted with his work that we couldn't help joining in the merriment. Hans the elder was suddenly coming towards us.

"I thought I'd come home to tell you," he said, and he was looking directly at me. "It's like this. It's the Countess Freya ..."

"Who is she?" I asked.

"She is betrothed to Sigmund, the heir, and she is at the Grand Schloss, being brought up in the Grand Duke's household. She has been there ever since she was betrothed. It is the custom that these brides are brought up with their future husband's family. It is supposed to get them used to the ways and habits of their future homes."

"Yes, Hans, we know she's there," said Daisy impatiently.

"Miss Philippa didn't."

"No, that's true, and she's Miss Ayres while she's here, remember."

"Yes," said Hans. "I'm sorry. Well, what I've heard is that the Countess Freya has to improve her English. Her present governess has taught her something of the language but they reckon her accent is wrong, and they want an Englishwoman to put her right."

I was staring wildly at Hans as a hundred possibilities crossed my mind.

He nodded, smiling at me. "That's what I thought," he said. "If you got inside the schloss you'd be able to find out if there is anything in all this talk."

"Teaching English to the Countess," I murmured.

"What's this?" cried Daisy, and when it was translated for her she was as wildly excited as I was. "It's the very thing. You're getting tired of being here with nothing happening... . You'll be going away soon unless something does pretty quick. But to go there ... to the slosh, wouldn't that be a lark!"

"Oh Daisy, it would be so exciting."

"Now listen to me," said Hans, "if you thought you'd like to do it I'll go along to the comptroller of the Grand Duke's household. He's a friend of mine and a recommendation from me would go a long way. But you see, if they knew you were Miss Francine's sister—"