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"I'd love to go there," Jenny was saying. "It must be the most romantic place in the world."

"Waikiki is becoming commercialised, like everywhere else," Adele told her, "but Maui is a different proposition." She seemed to be seeing Jenny for the first time, , assessing their relationship with a critical eye. "Henri has left me the plantation," she added briefly, "so you may get your wish sooner than you think."

"
Oh!
" Jenny leaned forward in her chair. "You know
how I would love to go there!"

"Yes," Adele agreed with a short, sharp sigh. "I know, but we have also Natalie to consider."

"She would be quite happy to stay here," Jenny returned swiftly. "We were talking about it the other day. Nat doesn't mind the isolation one little bit. In fact, she loves it because her ponies are all that matter to her."

"You matter," Adele said quietly, "up to a point. I've brought you a present," she added, deliberately switching the conversation away from Natalie. "If you fetch my small travelling-bag you can have it right away."

"How lovely!" Jenny jumped to her feet. "What is it, Grand'mere? Something from Australia?"

"I got it in Hawaii—at the very last minute, which almost caused Elizabeth to have an epileptic fit!" Adele drew Elizabeth back into the conversation with quiet deliberation. "Now that we are safely here," she added, "you needn't worry so much about Charles's opinion. It doesn't do a man any good to have everything going for him
all
the time. Charles imagines that he makes all the Abercrombie decisions and I let him think so. A little bit of subtlety goes a long way, and most men can be led where they won't be driven. When there are more than trivialities at stake," she added slowly, "it is best to be a little determined. Charles will be the head of the family quite soon, with all the attendant responsibilities that will entail, so he can't afford to make an irretrievable mistake now."

"You would like him to marry," Elizabeth assumed.

"Naturally, he must marry! It is in the nature of things," the old lady declared, her wide-awake eyes taking in the vista of loch and hills which could be seen through the long window. "A tragic experience in the past mustn't be allowed to colour the whole of the future for Charles or any of us. I'm French enough to realise that life is a long journey with more hills to climb than downward stretches where one can run and laugh in the sun, but I'm human enough to want the best for my family. Both my grandsons," she added, thinking of Jason whom she had left behind in Australia. "I'd like them both back here in Scotland, but at the present moment that's impossible. Besides, I believe Australia has been good for Jason—made a man of him, perhaps."

"How long has he been there?" Elizabeth asked.

"Two years. It's just over two years since the accident." The old lady's eyes were suddenly remote. "I can't speak about it in front of Jenny," she explained, looking towards the door. "She dwells on it too much as it is. She was badly hurt, as you can see, and her adored sister was killed."

"Claire!" Elizabeth murmured.

Claire's name had burned itself into Elizabeth's mind from the moment she had first heard it. Jenny's young, high-pitched voice with the suggestion of a sob in it still rang in her ears as she demanded of Charles: 'You'll never forget Claire, will you, and what Jason did to her ?'

"Jason was driving the car," Mrs. Abercrombie explained. "He must have been driving too fast, or at least Charles thought so, but the weather conditions were very bad. There was snow on the pass and freezing fog. Nothing could have been worse, and at the last minute Charles couldn't go with them. If he had been able to go—if a business commitment hadn't stood in his way— he would have been driving the car, and that's why I think he can never forgive himself for putting Abercrombie's first. They were going to a Hunt Ball. It was Jenny's first grown-up dance."

"Poor Jenny!" said Elizabeth. "Will she always be like that?"

"It is hoped that her arm will strengthen a little with the necessary exercises, but she will never have the full use of her hand." Addle sighed. "It will be something she will learn to live with, in the end, but Just now it is crippling her mind as well as her body. Natalie hopes Charles will marry Jenny, of course, out of a sense of obligation, but I wouldn't like to see that happen. Unless it was something he really wanted," she added thoughtfully as Jenny came back into the room with her pigskin travelling-case.

"What does he really want?" Jenny asked gaily. "You were talking about Charles, weren't you?"

"You have ears as long as a donkey's," Adele exclaimed. "Charles doesn't necessarily dominate our conversation all the time."

Jenny cast a speculative glance in Elizabeth's direction.

"I
felt
you were discussing him," she said, placing the case on the old lady's knee. "Hurry and open it, Grand'mere! I can hardly wait!"

Elizabeth was quick to recognise the deep bond of affection which existed between these two, the tenderness and pity of the old lady's love towards the child who had been injured, and the unquestioning devotion of the young girl who had come to rely on that love and understanding in an almost impossible situation. Jenny had been deeply affected by her experience, but it was in Natalie that the true bitterness lay. Without being a victim of the accident itself, it had affected her in a way she had least expected, curtailing her freedom to do exactly as she wished with her life. It was Natalie who demanded recompense, if not revenge, for the loss of Claire and the dependence of Jenny on Mrs. Abercrombie's bounty.

Adele found the bracelet she had bought at the airport, clasping it round Jenny's frail wrist while Elizabeth looked on.

"Grand'mere, it's lovely!" Jenny cried. "What are they ? They look like little beans."

"They
are
little beans," Mrs. Abercrombie smiled.

"And they all have a meaning, which you can read on the lid of the box."

Jenny was already attaching their meanings to the relative beans.

"This one says that I'll return to the Islands," she pointed out, "although I've never been there!"

"It could mean that you'll return more than once," Elizabeth suggested helpfully.

"This one is for love." Jenny looked up at them, her eyes suddenly bleak. "Can it be for me?" she asked.

"Why not?" Adele demanded. "You must not be afraid of life,
ma chere.
It's there for the living for all of us."

"I know." Jenny let the beans dangle from their frail gold chain. "They're so pretty," she said. "I'll wear them all the time, to remind me."

Of love? A love she had lost or one she might never possess?— Her attitude to Charles had been gay and friendly, yet she had looked at him with a sort of longing, her eyes misted over with sudden tears. Elizabeth turned away from the brightness of the fire as Charles came back into the room with Natalie. They had seen the pony and Charles thought it wise to consult the local veterinary surgeon as soon as possible.

"I'll phone him first thing in the morning," Natalie agreed. "I'm glad you feel the same as I do about it, Charles."

Her cheeks were faintly flushed and she kept her eyes on the window where the light was beginning to fade.

"Will you stay and have a meal with us?" Adele asked. "You will be welcome."

"No, thank you all the same." Natalie's smile was thin. "I know you must want to have a family confab when you have been away from, Kilchoan for so long. Charles had a word with James Murdoch on the way up," she added. "Even here we had problems, it would seem. Jenny can stay, of course. She's done nothing but talk about your return since you went away."

Charles followed her to the door, looking back at Elizabeth.

"Would you like a walk?" he asked. "It's still light enough and it isn't very far."

"I can easily find my own way home," Natalie snapped before Elizabeth could answer. "I do it all the time, remember?"

She had a way of nipping even the kindest suggestion in the bud which was disconcerting, and Elizabeth found herself waiting for Charles's reply.

"You must please yourself," he told her, "but the offer still stands." He looked directly at Elizabeth. "I thought you might like to see the sun go down over a Scottish loch," he added.

"Allez-vous-en!"
said Adele, watching them closely. "Jenny will help me to unpack."

Jenny took her arm.

"You must have bought dozens of new things since you went to Australia," she smiled. "I can hardly wait to help!"

"Why should I want to buy new clothes at my age?" Adele demanded. "I have more than enough for my needs."

"Now
you're
just being a humbug!" Jenny laughed as they walked away. "The French part of you will always be interested in new clothes, to say nothing about the latest fashion!"

"How well you know me!" Adele chuckled. "Dinner is at eight, Charles, the same as always. Give Elizabeth time to have a bath and change."

Almost reluctantly Natalie Hodge followed them to the front door, standing on the step in frigid silence while Charles found a walking stick in the large cloakroom leading from the hall. It had originally been a gun-room and was full of all sorts of things, from garden chairs to brooms for sweeping up the autumn leaves and numerous waterproof coats ready to hand for anyone going out in the rain.

"All set?" He walked between them down the drive. "Is it safe to go across the fields?" he asked.

"Safe enough for me," Natalie told him with a disdainful glance at Elizabeth's footwear. "I came that way, but I dare say Miss Drummond will be in difficulty before she reaches the stile into the wood."

"We'll take the road, in that case," Charles said.

"It's the longer way round," Natalie reminded him.

"We're not in any hurry. I'll take a look in at the stables on my way back," he promised.

They went out between the lodge gates, quickening their pace when they reached the main road, their footsteps ringing on its frosty surface as they climbed the hill.

"You needn't bother to come all the way," said Natalie. "I'm perfectly capable of getting back to Windy Brae on my own, Charles."

"We're almost there," he said, walking on determinedly.

Ahead of them, on the spur of a hill, they could just see the cottage where the three sisters had made their home after their parents' death. It was larger than Elizabeth had expected, with a high-pitched roof and a row of windows along the front which must have commanded a breathtaking view of the entire glen, yet Natalie spoke of it disparagingly as they drew near.

"We suffer from a terrible lack of space," she told Elizabeth. "After Berridene, which was our childhood home, Windy Brae feels like a rabbit hutch, but we had very little choice. We had to get rid of Berridene and that was that. If it hadn't been for Charles—and Mrs. Abercrombie—I would have been forced to part with the ponies, too, but now they are firmly established in the stables at Kilchoan, and life is bearable again."

She had managed to convey the fact that she and Jenny were part of the life at Kilchoan—an essential part of it—and that any interference with their established routine would be deeply resented. She made a point of isolating the conversation to Charles and herself, discussing horses, which Elizabeth knew very little about, although she had learned to ride, succeeding in creating a tension in the atmosphere which even Charles must feel.

"I won't ask you in," she said when they reached the heavy iron gate leading to the cottage. "Unless you would like a drink, Charles?"

"We must get back," he decided. "Dinner will be on time."

A small roe deer had found its way through the half-open gate into the garden.

"Heavens!" Natalie exclaimed. "My poor cabbages! I'll have none left if he's in there for the rest of the night. Can you head him off, Charles, while I open the other gate?"

The small deer was elusive, to say the least, and Elizabeth decided that she was of very little help when she had headed the startled animal in the wrong direction twice. Twice Natalie glared at her.

"You had better leave it to Charles," she said, drawing up beside the gate. "You've chased it far enough the wrong way, as it is."

"I'm sorry!" Elizabeth apologised. "I meant to be helpful." '

Natalie considered her for several seconds before she said:

"You know absolutely nothing about conditions in this part of the world, do you? You're a town-bred Australian and you'll never really fit in."

Taken completely aback, Elizabeth was aware of the angry colour flooding into her cheeks.

"Is that what Charles drinks?" she found herself demanding. "If so, he needn't worry. I'll fit in as far as Mrs. Abercrombie is concerned. I can always be the perfect secretary."

"A secretary-companion," Natalie mused. "What a ridiculous situation! She's never needed either a secretary or a companion before, to my knowledge. She's the most self-reliant old woman for miles around, but I suppose it was Jason's idea. It couldn't possibly have been Charles's."

"Whoever had the idea originally," Elizabeth said slowly, "it's worked out very well. It probably was Jason's suggestion, when I come to think of it."

"Because you were an unwanted girl-friend?" Natalie's smile was humiliating in the extreme. "How long had you known him?"

"Not at all," Elizabeth returned with dignity, determined not to answer any more questions. "I wrote to a box number in a Sydney newspaper and was lucky enough to get the job."

"Lucky, yes," Natalie agreed scathingly, "but I think you ought to know that there isn't any room for you at Kilchoan. We're a very tightly-knit unit here—a family, I could say—and Charles hasn't time for extra hangers-on."

Appalled by the harsh effrontery of the calculated insult, Elizabeth could only stare at her in silent antagonism as Charles finally chased the deer out of the garden and secured the gate which led on to the moor.