“Have you seen Captain Brent?” I asked Gordon.

“As I said, don’t think about anything but what you have to do. I assure you this is the best way to save Tristan. You could never have found the box in the cottage because it was no longer there. Now please, Dorabella, listen to your sister.”

He gave Violetta a grateful and admiring look. I thought: he is right. She is so sensible. She would never have gone to the kidnappers in the first place.

I did exactly as they said. I went to the cottage with my shopping bag on my arm. I stayed there for a while and, when I came out, I carried it very carefully. I put it beside me in the car and drove off.

The important moment was creeping nearer. How time lagged! Three o’clock. Would it never be half past? Had the clock stopped?

I was ready to leave at four. I knew that Violetta was watching me from a window. I placed the bag containing the box on the seat beside me and drove into the road.

To my dismay, Simone was there.

“Just going out then?” she asked.

“Yes,” I stammered.

“I wondered if you would give me a lift into Poldown?”

What could I say? I was going in that direction anyway. I wanted to tell her that I was going on an important engagement, but restrained myself in time.

I reached over and opened the door. She got in and almost sat on the shopping bag. Flustered, I grasped it.

“Let’s put it at the back,” said Simone.

“No … no … I’ll take it.” I settled it at my feet.

I was trembling. It was nothing to be alarmed at. She would leave as soon as we reached the town and I could turn into the road heading for Bodmin.

I was thankful that she did not ask where I was going. She said I must be feeling dreadful and she wished there was something she could do.

“I think we must hear something soon,” I said.

“The police are clever,” she added.

We did not speak much. There was nothing we could talk about with so much on our minds, and she knew if we spoke of that it would be painful.

I was glad when she left.

I drove on. That had delayed me only a minute or so, and I was in good time. I found the cottage with no problem.

Grasping the bag, I went inside. Then I heard a voice which made my heart leap with joy and fear.

“I want my mummy.”

“Tristan!”

I called out his name and the door opened. The masked man whom I had seen before was standing there.

“Well, Mrs. Tregarland,” he said. “What have you brought for me?”

“What you asked for.”

“Show me.”

I took the box from the bag and handed it to him. I thought I should faint with fear. It could not be the real one. They would never have let him have that. Would he know?

“Where is my child?” I said.

“You shall have him. We keep our promises. There is one other thing.”

“No! No!” I cried. “Give him to me.”

“It is easy. You must say you found him wandering on the road.”

“I will say anything if you give him to me.”

He turned. I think the figure who was beside him was a woman. Then Tristan rushed into my arms.

He was half-crying, half-laughing. I said: “Tristan … my darling … come with me. We’re going home.”

I took his hand and ran out of the cottage. I pushed him into the car, started the engine, and we were off.

I wanted to sing paeans of praise, I wanted to thank God, all His angels, Violetta, and Gordon.

My baby was safe with me.

He nestled close to me, holding my skirt in a tight grip. I took a quick look at him. He was smiling and, in a tone of deep satisfaction, he announced: “Got Mummy.”

At that moment there was pandemonium and noise broke out from every side. I heard the sound of shots. I stepped on the accelerator.

Gordon had said: “When Tristan is handed to you, do not lose a moment. Get into the car, and drive as quickly as you can back to Tregarland.”

So that is what I did.

I wonder if I have ever been so happy in my life as I was when I ran into the house gripping Tristan’s hand.

“He’s home!” I shouted. “Listen, everybody. Tristan’s here.”

They all rushed into the hall. I shall never forget Nanny Crabtree’s face. Tears were running down her cheeks. She was the first to reach him.

“My angel!” she cried. “Come home to Nanny!”

Then I saw Violetta smile at Gordon … a smile of deep gratitude and admiration. Then she was hugging me and everyone was talking at once.

They would soon be asking how he was found, and I was not sure what I was expected to say.

Then the questions came.

“It’s wonderful, wonderful. Where did you find him, Mrs. Tregarland?”

Violetta said: “We are all so exhausted. We’ll hear about it later. I am going to take Mrs. Tregarland to the nursery with Nanny.” She whispered to them: “Better not to talk of it before the child.”

Trust Violetta to know what to do!

Nanny was holding Tristan’s hand and would not let it go.

“Come on,” Violetta continued. “We’ll all go up now. Tristan is worn out.”

They dispersed, disappointed, but there was not one of them who was not overcome with delight because Tristan was home.

Tristan was examined by Nanny. He did not seem to have suffered from his ordeal.

It was difficult to get from him what had actually happened.

Did he leave his bed and go off?

He looked a little vague and nodded.

Why did he do that?

“To see the dinosaurs,” he said.

“In the picture book?”

“No … real ones.”

“Where?”

“In the garden.”

“Who told you?”

“The lady.”

“What lady?”

“Her,” he said.

“Who?” I asked.

He looked vague.

“Was it a lady you hadn’t seen before?” I went on. He still looked puzzled.

“And did you see the dinosaurs?” I asked.

He shook his head.

“Who was there?”

“Her.”

“Was she nice?”

He nodded.

I could see there was nothing to be learned from him. This woman had slipped into the house while Nanny was in a deep sleep; she had taken him down to see the dinosaurs and then, presumably, carried him off.

At least they had not harmed him and I could only think of one overwhelming fact: he was back.

Violetta and I had a long talk with Gordon that evening. I don’t suppose he told us everything, but he realized we could not be left entirely in the dark,

Violetta had guessed that Captain Brent had apparently rented Riverside Cottage because he was going to look in on the recuperating soldiers while he was engaged in some important secret work. After the flashing lights episode, attention had been drawn to our part of the coast, where, it seemed, something subversive might be going on.

It was suspected that someone was transmitting messages to the enemy. They had made the initial mistake of using equipment which had allowed the signals to be so bright that they were visible. The furor which had ensued in the neighborhood had been a warning to them. They must have rejoiced to have an obvious scapegoat in Gretchen.

“This sort of thing is inevitable in wartime,” said Gordon. “Spies are planted before the war starts. Some might have been living the lives of normal people for some time and then were called into service. There are numbers of such people. And then there are the experts … the full-time spies who will have found some means of getting into the country.”

“What was the box?” I asked.

Gordon hesitated, and then went on: “It has something to do with an invention which will detect the approach of aircraft miles away. It could be of great importance. Captain Brent was testing it in this part of the world and he was keeping it for a while in Riverside Cottage. They wished to get hold of it, which was why they had burgled the place. Charley saw them and stopped that. Charley has been something of a help. I’ll tell you more of that later.”

“I suppose at that time, the important box was in Riverside Cottage,” said Violetta.

“Yes. But for Charley, they might have found it.”

“What happened after I drove away with Tristan?”

“Our people had the place surrounded. I think we fooled them. The box you were given was a replica of the actual one, though, of course, it lacked the vital parts. They were naturally deceived … but that would have been only temporary. They believed you had carried out their orders, and they gave up Tristan. No doubt they thought it would not be wise to deceive you. They may have planned to use you again. We came in as soon as you left.”

“I heard shooting.”

“Inevitable in the circumstance. We got one of them in the leg.”

“How many were there?” asked Violetta.

“Six. We got them all. This is where Charley comes in again. The boys were riding round on their bicycles when they discovered a motorboat ready for departure. It was right down by the sea at Penwarlock. They reported it to me. Charley likes a bit of adventure and, since that scare about the lights, he has been keeping his eyes open. There have been a number of things he has reported to me. Well, this was something very important. We had people waiting down by this motorboat. Those people were about to get into the boat with their prize—the bogus box—when we took them all.”

“Who would believe such things could happen?” said Violetta.

“This is wartime,” Gordon reminded her.

In a neighborhood like ours, people were very much involved in what was going on around them; there had to be plausible explanations. When it was assumed that Tregarland had paid a ransom to the kidnappers, this was not contradicted.

We watched Tristan closely, to discover what effect the adventure had had on him. He was physically unharmed, so they could not have treated him badly. True, he would not stay in a room unless Violetta, Nanny Crabtree, or I were there and we noticed his eyes followed us when we moved away, and often he would stretch out a hand to grip our skirts. It was rather touching.

At night, the door between his room and that of Nanny Crabtree was kept open, and I suggested that a bed should be put in his room so that I could sleep there.

His delight at this was very revealing. No one, not even a child who did not know what it was all about, could go through an experience such as he had had without being affected by it.

I was so glad that I was sleeping there. Sometimes during the night, he would creep into my bed and I would hold him tightly in my arms.

This brought us closer together and I could tell myself that I was grateful because I was able to make up for what I had lost in the past through my desertion.

Never again would I leave him, I told myself in the darkness. For as long as he needed me, I should be there.

We thought we should not question him too closely, but gradually, little bits of information emerged. He had been in a house. There was someone he called “Her.” We learned by degrees that “Her” had told him that, if he were good and did not cry, he would go back to his mummy, his Auntie Violetta, and Nanny Crabtree. He had to eat his food too.

“Was the food nice?”

He wrinkled his nose.

“Not like Nanny’s?” I suggested.

“Not like Nanny’s,” he agreed.

“Her” was the one who had come in and told him about the dinosaurs in the garden.

“She came into your bedroom?”

He nodded.

“All by herself?”

He looked puzzled.

“Was there someone with her?”

“Outside the door,” he said.

“One of the servants?”

He did not know.

It was all very mysterious.

“It must never happen again,” I said to Violetta.

“It won’t. It failed once, didn’t it?”

“There might be other attempts.”

“It was all due to the box and your connection with Captain Brent.”

“Please … don’t remind me.”

“I’m sorry. But Tristan will be all right now.”

Nanny had been very shaken by the incident—more so than we had realized at first. She could not stop blaming herself for being asleep when Tristan had been taken.

“Right from under my nose,” she would murmur to herself, shaking her head, looking bewildered and shocked. “It was no more than one of my cozy naps after lunch. I’ve had them as long as I can remember.”