” Yes. I think it was.”

” Then I expect it was Deborah. She has her rooms there.”

“She was looking down on the quadrangle and Hyson waved to her, then ran off without explaining.”

” Hyson’s very fond of her, and she of Hyson. I’m glad, because Lowella is usually so much more popular. Are you coming down now?

We’re having tea in the winter parlour, and Deborah’s very anxious to meet you. “

” Let’s go, then.”

We went down to the little room on the first floor of the north wing, where a tall woman rose to greet me; I was almost certain that she was the one I had seen at the window.

She was not wearing the hat now, but her abundant white hair was in a style which might have been fashionable thirty years or so ago; and I noticed too that there was an old fashioned look about her clothes.

Her eyes were very blue and her frilly crepe de Chine blouse matched them perfectly. She was very tall and slender in her black tailored suit.

She took both my hands and looked earnestly into my face. ” My dear,” she said, ” how glad I am that you have come!” I was astonished by the fervour of her greeting; and I could only conjecture that, like most of the family, she was delighted to see Roc married, and therefore was prepared to accept me as a blessing.

“As soon as I heard the news I came.”

” That’s very kind of you.”

She smiled almost wistfully while her eyes remained on me. ” Come and sit beside me,” she said. ” We’ll have lots to talk about. Morwenna dear, is that tea coming soon?”

” Almost at once,” Morwenna replied.

We sat side by side and she went on: “You must call me Deborah, dear.

The children do. Oh, by the children I mean Petroc and Morwenna. The twins call me Granny. They always have. I don’t mind in the least.”

” You don’t look like a granny!”

She smiled. ” I expect I do to the twins. They think anyone of twenty somewhat aged, and after that of course quite ancient. I’m rather glad they do, though. They hadn’t a granny. I supplied the need.” Mrs. Penhalligan brought in the tea and Morwenna poured it. ” Charles and Roc won’t be in for an hour or so,” she told Deborah.

” I’ll see them at dinner. Oh, here are the twins.” The door burst open and Lowella rushed in, followed sedately by Hyson. “

“Lo, Granny,” said Lowella, and walking to Deborah’s chair was embraced and kissed. Hyson followed; and I noticed that the hug she received was even more affectionate. There was no doubt that these two were very fond of each other.

Lowella went to the tea-trolly to see what there was for tea, while Hyson stood leaning against Deborah’s chair.

” I must say it is pleasant to be back,” said Deborah, ” though I miss the moor.” She explained to me: “I have a house on Dartmoor. I was brought up there and now that my parents are dead it belongs to me.

You must come out and see it one day. “

” I’ll come with you,” said Lowella.

” Dear Lowella!” murmured Deborah. ” She never likes to be left out of anything. And you’ll come too, Hyson, won’t you?”

” Yes, Granny.”

” That’s a good girl. I hope you’re looking after your Aunt Favel, and making her feel at home.”

” We don’t call her Aunt. She’s just Favel and of course we’ve been looking after her,” said Lowella. ” Uncle Roc told us we had to.”

“And Hyson?”

” Yes, Granny, I’ve been showing her what she ought to see and telling her what she ought to know.”

Deborah smiled and began gently pulling Hyson’s ponytail in a caressing way.

She smiled at me: ” I must show you pictures of the children. I have lots of them in my rooms.”

” On the walls,” cried Lowella, ” and in albums with writing underneath. It says Petroc aged six.” Morwenna in the Quadrangle aged eight. ” And there are lots of Granny Barbarina and Granny Deborah when they were little girls—only they’re in Devon.” Deborah leaned towards me.

“There’s usually a person like myself in all families: the one who did not marry but could be called in to look after the children. She keeps all < the pictures and knows the dates of birthdays.” i ” Granny Deborah never forgets,” Lowella told me.

“Did I see you when I was in the quadrangle?” I could not prevent myself asking, for foolish as it was, I had to satisfy myself on this point.

” Yes. I had only just arrived. I hadn’t told Morwenna or Roc that I was coming to-day. I peeped out and saw you and Hyson. I didn’t know you’d seen me or I should have opened the window and spoken to you.”

” Hyson waved and I looked up and saw you. I was astonished when she said you were her granny.”

” And didn’t she explain? Oh Hyson, my dear child!” She went on caressing the ponytail.

” I told her it was my granny, and it was,” Hyson defended herself.

“You’re eating very little,” Morwenna scolded Deborah and me. ” Do try these splits. Maria will be hurt if we send too many back.”

” I always say this Cornish cream isn’t as good as ours in Devonshire,” said Deborah.

Morwenna laughed.

“That’s sheer prejudice. It’s exactly the same.”

Deborah asked me about my life in Capri and how Roc and I had met.

“How delightful!” she cried when I had answered her questions. ” A lightning romance! I think it’s charming, don’t you, Morwenna?”

” We’re all very pleased, of course … particularly now that we know Favel.”

” And we were longing for the new Bride of Pendorric,” said Hyson quietly.

Everyone laughed and conversation was general while we finished tea.

When the meal was over, Hyson asked if she could help her granny unpack. Deborah was very pleased and said of course she could. She added: ” And I don’t suppose Favel has seen my rooms, has she? Well invite her to come with us, shall we. Hyson?”

I thought Hyson rather grudgingly agreed, but I accepted quickly because I was anxious to know more of this new member of the household.

The three of us went off together and soon were in the west corridor passing that very window at which Deborah had appeared and so startled me.

She opened the door of a room which had windows very like those in Roc’s and my bedroom and which gave a superb view of the coastline stretching out towards the west and Land’s End. My eyes went immediately to the bed—a fourposter like ours—because on the rose-coloured counterpane lay the black hat with the blue band. It was not really like the one in the picture but the colouring was similar.

I felt rather foolish as well as relieved, because it was comforting to solve the mystery of the apparition so quickly, but at the same time it was disconcerting to remember how shaken I had been at the sight of it. i I saw then that a part of one of the walls was covered with photographs of all sizes and types, some being studio portraits, others snapshots.

Deborah laughed and followed my gaze. ” I have always hoarded pictures of the family. It’s the same in Devonshire, isn’t it. Hyson?”

” Yes, but they’re all pictures of you before … these are after.”

“Yes, of course. Time seems rather divided like that-before Barby*s marriage … and after.”

” Barbarina,” I murmured involuntarily.

“Yes, Barbarina. She was Barby to me, and I was Deb. No one else ever called us by those versions of our names. Barbarina was the name of an ancestress of ours. It’s unusual, isn’t it? Until Barbarina’s marriage she and I were always together.” The blue eyes clouded momentarily and I guessed that there had been great devotion between the sisters. ” Oh well,” she went on, ” it’s all so long ago. Some times I find it hard to believe that she is dead … and in her grave….”

” But…” began Hyson.

Deborah laid her hand on the child’s head and went on: ” When she … died, I came to live here and I brought up Petroc and Morwenna. I tried to take her place, but can anyone take the place of a mother?”

” They’re very fond of you, I’m sure.”

” I think they are. Do let me show you the photographs. I think some of them are very charming. You’ll want to see your husband in the various stages of his development, I expect. It’s always rather fun, don’t you think, to see people as they were years and years ago. “

I smiled at the mischievous-eyed boy in the open shirt and cricket flannels; and the picture of him standing side by side with Morwenna—Morwenna smiling coyly at the camera. Roc scowling at it.

There was a picture of them as babies; they lay side by side and a beautiful woman was bending over them.

” Barbarina and her twins,” murmured Deborah.

” How beautiful she is !” “Yes.” There was a note of infinite sadness in her voice. So she still mourns her sister, I thought; and there came into my mind the memory of the family vault with the laurel hanging on the spike. I guessed who had put that there.

I turned my attention to a picture of a man and a woman; I had no difficulty in recognising Barbarina, and the man who was with her was so like Roc that I guessed he was Barbarina’s husband. There it was, the almost challenging smile, the face of a man who knew how to get the best out of life, the reckless gambler, the indefinable charm. I noticed that the ears of the man in the picture were Roc’s ears, that the eyes were slightly tilted at the corners. It was a handsome face, made even more attractive by that streak of mischief . wickedness . or whatever it was that I had sensed in Roc. ” Roc’s parents,” I said.

” Taken a year before the tragedy,” Deborah told me. ” It is very sad. He looks so fond of her. He must have been heartbroken.”

Deborah smiled grimly, but she did not speak.