And of course there are the midnight bonfires. You should see them springing up all over the moors."

It was all very interesting but finally it occurred to me that I was staying too long. So I thanked him for the hospitality and said I must be on my way. It had been such an enjoyable afternoon and I was glad I had been lost in the wood.

The pony trap had arrived and I was helped into it. Michael Hydrock took the reins and I sat beside him. His clean-cut profile was turned towards me and I thought what a pleasant face his was—not exactly distinguished but kindly. Here was a man whom it would be easy to understand: I felt he could be relied on to act in a predictable manner.

He said: "I fancy the wind is softening a little. It may well be that the sea will be calm enough for you to go out to the Island tomorrow morning."

"I had no idea that I should be delayed so long."

"It's the geographical location of the Island actually. It's not so far from the land—only three miles—but this coast has its idiosyncrasies. It's a treacherous coast at the best of times and it's unwise to go out with anyone but an experienced boatman. There's a mass of rock just below the sea which has to be carefully skirted and there are quicksands about a mile or so east of Polcrag beach. It has been said that was why the Island was called the Far Isle. You see, it's not that it is so very far from the mainland, just that conditions so often put it out of reach."

"Is there more than one island?"

"There's the main one, which is moderately large as islands go. It's about ten miles by five; then there is a small one very close. There is only one house on that one. There is another, too, which is not inhabited at all and which is a sort of bird sanctuary."

We were almost in the town and I could see the beginning of the Polcrag street. I was sorry, for I wanted to go on riding with Michael Hydrock and hearing about the life of the neighborhood. I thought I might perhaps glean a little more information about my family.

"It was kind of you to take such care of me after I'd trespassed," I told him.

"I felt guilty because you'd tripped in my woods."

"Where I had no right to be! But I'm afraid I can't say I'm sorry. It's been such a delightful afternoon."

"One thing, it has shown you a little of our countryside. We shall meet again as you won't be far off."

"I do hope so. Do you often come to the Island?"

"Occasionally. And you must come to Hydrock Manor when you are on the mainland."

"I must pick a fair day if I don't want to get stranded."

"I think it may be possible for you to cross tomorrow. In fact the signs indicate that it almost certainly will be."

I felt excited at the prospect.

Now we were right in the town. One or two people looked after the pony trap and I guessed they must be wondering who the stranger was with Michael Hydrock.

As we entered the inn yard Mrs. Pengelly, who happened to be there, looked at us in blank amazement.

Michael Hydrock smiled at her. "It's all right, Mrs. Pengelly. Miss Kellaway hurt her ankle in the woods and I've brought her back."

"My dear life!" she exclaimed.

Michael had leaped down and was helping me out.

"How is it?" he asked as I stood on my feet.

"Quite all right, I think. I can scarcely feel anything."

"Well sir," said Mrs. Pengelly, "would you come in and drink a tankard of ale or a goblet of wine or should I make a nice brew of tea?"

"Thank you but no, Mrs. Pengelly. I must be off now."

He took my hand and smiled at me gently.

"Be careful of the ankle," he said. "And when you come to the mainland ... or if you feel at any time you need... and you would like to, do call. I should be delighted."

"You have been most good to me," I said earnestly.

"It was nothing and has been a pleasure."

Then he was back in the trap and, smiling, turned the horse, who trotted out of the courtyard.

Mrs. Pengelly and I stood together watching him.

Then I went into the inn and up to my room, where I lay on the bed, my foot stretched out before me. I had not been there five minutes when there was a tap on the door and Mrs. Pengelly came in. Her eyes were alight with curiosity. I could see that she thought it very odd that I should have been brought back by Michael Hydrock.

She said: "I wondered if there was anything I could get you, Miss Kellaway?"

I assured her there was nothing I wanted but she lingered and I could see she wanted to talk and I must admit that I was eager that she should do so, for since she had known my mother and actually lived on the Island there was obviously a great deal she could tell me.

"It was strange that you should meet Sir Michael," she said.

"I had no idea that he was Sir Michael."

"Oh yes, the title's been in the family for years... one of the Hydrocks was knighted years ago... something to do with fighting for the King against the Parliament, and when the King came back, there was title and lands for the family."

"I gathered they had been at the Manor for generations. It's a wonderful old place."

"The Hydrocks have been the squires of these lands ever since they got the title and that's going back a few years—just as the Kellaways have owned the Far Island for about as many years."

"They own the Island?"

"Why yes, 'tis often known as Kellaway's Isle."

"There are surely not just Kellaways there."

"Bless you, no. It's a thriving community. Leastways it's been so since.... It's got its farmlands and shops and there's even an inn. People go there for quietness. You can feel really cut away from the world there."

"Mrs. Pengelly, what do you know about my mother and father?"

She spread her hands before her and gazed down at them as though looking for inspiration there. Then she raised her eyes and looked straight into mine. "She just couldn't abide the place," she said. "She was always saying she would leave. There were quarrels. Your father was not an easy man to live with. Then she just went away and took you with her. That's all I know."

"You were her maid so you must have lived close to her."

Mrs. Pengelly lifted her shoulders. "She came from the town. She used to hate the sound of the waves pounding on the shores. She said the cries of the gulls were like voices jeering at her because she was a prisoner."

"A prisoner!"

"That was how she felt... having left her home in London and coming down to Kellaway's Isle... ."

"So she left her home, her husband, everything... except me. She must have been unhappy."

"She was so bright and lively when she came here. Then she changed. There's some people Kellaway's Isle wouldn't suit and she's one of them."

"What of my father? Didn't he try to bring her back?"

"No, he just let her go."

"So he didn't care very much about either of us."

"He wasn't the sort of man to be very interested in children. And then of course ..."

She trailed off and I said eagerly: "Yes, what?"

"Oh, nothing. I left then. There was no cause for me to be there when she was gone. I came back to the mainland. My father kept this inn then and I married Pengelly and he helped me to run the inn, and then my father died and it passed to us."

"Who is Jago Kellaway... what relation to me?"

"Now that's something he'll tell you. He wouldn't want me to be talking too much."

"You seem afraid of him."

"He's not the sort a body would want to offend."

"He's my guardian apparently."

"Is that so then, Miss?"

"That's what he said in his letter."

"Well then it be right and proper that you be under his roof."

"There seems to be a sort of mystery about the Island or the Kellaways. I notice a change in people when they learn who I am."

"They'd be surprised, I reckon. Hereabouts people know something about others' business and they'd know your mother went off with her child and you be that child. Stands to reason they're interested to see what you've grown up like."

"Is that all it is? I wish I knew more about the Island and my family."

"Well, Miss, that'll be something you'll soon be finding out, won't it? My dear life, I be forgetting I have work to do. Be 'ee sure there's nothing I can bring 'ee?"

I thanked her and assured her I wanted nothing. I could see that she was a little afraid that she might have said too much and that I might trap her into saying still more.

The evening passed quickly. I kept going over the events of the day and I told myself that I should not be completely sorry if the sea prevented my crossing to the Island for another day, for I might see Michael Hydrock again.

Next morning I awoke to a calm sea, glittering in the sunshine.

I was sure I would cross to the Island on that day and I was right. At ten o'clock in the morning the boat arrived.

The Castle

I saw it from my window. A man and a boy alighted and two oarsmen remained in the boat. The man was of medium height, thickset, with light brown hair; the boy slim and I imagined about fourteen years of age. I went downstairs. Mrs. Pengelly greeted me. "The boat be come, Miss Kellaway."

One of the men from the inn stables brought down my bags and by that time the man and the boy had come into the inn.

Mrs. Pengelly bustled around very eager to please.