I said: ” I’ll come and help look for her.”

So instead of going to bed I joined in the search for Gillyflower.

I was very worried because on this day of tragedy I was prepared for anything to happen. What could have happened to little Gilly? I visualised a thousand things. I thought she might have wandered on to the beach and been caught by the tide, and I pictured her little body thrown up by the waves in Mellyn Cove as her mother’s had been eight years ago.

That was morbid. No, Gilly had gone wandering and had fallen asleep somewhere. I remembered that I had seen her often in the woods. But she would not be lost if she were in the woods. She knew every inch of them.

I nevertheless made my way to the woods, calling ” Gilly! Gilly!” as I went; and the mist, which was rising again with the coming of evening, seemed to catch my voice and muffle it as though it were cotton wool.

I searched those woods thoroughly because my intuition told me that she was there, and that she was not lost but hiding.

I was right. I came across her lying in a clearing surrounded by small conifers.

I had seen her in this spot once or twice and I guessed it was a haven to her.

“Gilly!” I called.

“Gilly!” And as soon as she heard my voice she sprang to her feet. She was poised to run but she hesitated when I called to her: ” Gilly, it’s all right. I’m here all alone and I won’t hurt you.”

She looked like a wild fairy child, her extraordinary white hair hanging damply about her shoulders.

” Why, Gilly,” I said, ” You’ll catch cold, lying on that damp grass.

Why are you hiding, Gilly? “

Her big eyes watched my face, and I knew that it was fear of something which had driven her to this refuge in the woods.

If only she would talk to me! I thought. If only she would explain.

” Gilly,” I said, ” we’re friends, aren’t we? You know that. I’m your friend as Madam was.”

She nodded and the fear slipped from her face. I thought, she has seen me in Alice’s well-cut riding clothes and, I believe, in her confused little mind she had bracketed us together in some way.

I put my arm about her; her dress was damp and I could see the mist on her pale brows and lashes.

” Why, Gilly, you are cold.”

She allowed me to cuddle her. I said : ” Come on, Gilly, we’re going back. Your grand mamma is very anxious. She is wondering what has become of you.”

She allowed me to lead her from the clearing, but I was aware of the reluctant drag of her feet.

I kept my arm firmly about her, and I said : ” You were at the horse show this afternoon.”

She turned to me and as she buried her face against me, her little hands gripped the doth of my dress. I was conscious of her trembling.

Then in a flash of understanding I began to see what had happened.

This child, like Alvean, was terrified of horses. Of course she was.

Had she not been almost trampled to death by one?

I believed that, as Alvean had been suffering from temporary shock, so was this child; but the shock which had come to her was of longer duration, and she had never known anyone who had been able to help her fight the darkness which had descended upon her.

In that misty wood I felt like a woman who has a mission. I was not going to turn my face from a poor child who needed help.

She was suffering from a return of that earlier shock. This afternoon she had seen Alvean beneath a horse’s hoofs as she herself had been after all it had happened only four years ago.

At that moment I heard the sound of horse’s hoofs in the wood, and I shouted: ” Hallo, I’ve found her.”

” Hallo! Coming, Miss Leigh.” And I was exhilarated almost unbearably so because that was Connan’s voice.

I guessed that he had returned from Mount Widden to discover that Gilly was lost, and that he had Joined the search party. Perhaps he knew that I had come to the woods and decided to join me.

He came into sight and Gilly shrank closer to me, keeping her face hidden.

” She’s here,” I called. He came dose to us and I went on:

” She is exhausted, poor child. Take her up with you.”

He leaned forward to take her, but she cried out: ” No! No!”

He was astonished to hear her speak, but I was not. I had already discovered that in moments of stress she did so.

I said: ” Gilly. Go up there with the master. I’ll walk beside you and hold your hand.”

She shook her head.

I went on: ” Look! This is May Morning. She wants to carry you, because she knows you’re tired.”

Gilly’s eyes turned to look at May Morning, and, in the fear I saw there, was the due.

” Take her,” I said to Connan, and he stooped and swung her up in his arms and set her in front of him.

She tried to fight, but I kept on talking to her soothingly. ” You’re safe up there. And we’ll get back more quickly. You’ll find a nice bowl of bread and milk waiting for you, and then there’ll be your warm cosy bed. I’ll hold your hand all the time and walk beside you.”

She no longer struggled but kept her hand in mine.

And so ended that strange day, with myself and Connan bringing in the lost child.

When she was lifted from the horse and handed to her grandmother, Connan gave me a smile which I thought was infinitely charming. That was because it held none of the mockery which I had seen hitherto.

I went up to my room, exultation wrapped about me as the mist wrapped itself about the horse. It was tinged with melancholy but the joy was so strong that the mingling of my feelings was difficult to understand.

I knew of course what had happened to me. To-day had made it very dear. I had done a foolish thing perhaps the most foolish thing I had ever done in my life.

I had fallen in love for the first time, and with someone who was quite out of my world. I was in love with the master of Mount Mellyn, and I had an uneasy feeling that he might be aware of it.

On the table by my bed was the draught which Dr. Pengelly had given me.

I locked the door, undressed, drank the draught and went to bed.

But before I got into bed I looked at myself in my pink flannelette nightdress, primly buttoned up to the throat. Then I laughed at the

incongruity of my thoughts and said aloud in n my best governess’s tones: ” In the morning, after the good night’s rest Dr. Pengelly’s potion will give you, you’U come to your senses.”

The next few weeks were the happiest I had so far spent in Mount Mellyn. It soon became clear that Alvean had suffered no great harm. I was delighted to find that she had lost none of her keenness for riding and asked eager questions about Black Prince’s slight injuries, taking it for granted that she would soon ride him again.

We resumed school after the first week; she was pleased to do so. I also taught her to play chess, and she picked up the game with astonishing speed; and if I handicapped myself by playing without my queen she was even able to checkmate me.

But it was not only Alvean’s progress which made me so happy. It was the fact that Connan was in the house; and what astonished me was that, although he made no reference to my outburst on the day of the accident, he had clearly noted it and would appear in Alvean’s room with books and puzzles which he thought would be of interest to her.

In the first days I said to him : ” There is one thing that pleases her more than all the presents you bring; that is your own company.”

He had answered: ” What an odd child she must be to prefer me to a book or a game.”

I smiled at him and he returned my smile; and again I was aware of that change in his expression.

Sometimes he would sit down and watch our game of chess. Then he would range himself on Alvean’s side against me. I would protest and demand I be allowed to have my queen back.

Alvean would sit smiling, and he would say: ” Look, Alvean. We’ll put our bishop there, and that’ll make our dear Miss Leigh look to her de fences

Alvean would giggle and throw me a triumphant glance, and I would be so happy to be with the two of them that I grew almost careless and nearly lost the game. But not quite. I never forgot that between Connan and me there was a certain battle in progress and I always wanted to prove my mettle.

Though it was only a game of chess I wanted to show him I was his match.

He said one day: ” When Alvean’s movable we’ll drive over to Fowey and have a picnic.”

” Why go to Fowey,” I asked, ” when you have a perfect picnic beach here?”

” My dear Miss Leigh ” —he had acquired a habit of calling me his dear Miss Leigh”-do you not know that other people’s beaches are more exciting than one’s own?”

” Oh yes, Papa,” cried Alvean. ” Do let’s have a picnic.”

She was so eager to get well for the picnic that she ate all the food which was brought to her and talked of the expedition continually. Dr.

Pengelly was delighted with her; so were we all.

I said to Connan one day: ” But you are the real cure. You have made her so happy, because at last you let her see that you are aware of her existence.”

Then he did a surprising thing. He took my hand and lightly kissed my cheek. It was very different from that kiss which he had given me on the night of the ball. This was swift, friendly, passionless yet affectionate.

” No,” he said, ” it is you who are the real cure, my dear Miss Leigh.”

I thought he was going to say something more. But he did not do so.

Instead he left me abruptly.

I did not forget Gilly. I determined to fight for her as I had for Alvean, and I thought the best way of doing so was to speak to Connan about it. He was in that mood, I believed, to grant me what I asked. I should not have been surprised if, when Alvean was about again, he changed to his old self-forgetful of her, full of mockery for me. So I decided to strike my blow for Gilly while I had a chance of success.