“I felt I had to come and see you before you left,” he said.

“That is very good of you.”

“It’s a big step you are taking.”

“Let’s sit down. A big step? Yes. But we have thought a good deal about it and in the circumstances it seems a good thing.”

“I’m so glad Miss Milne is going with you.”

“Yes, that is a great piece of luck for me.”

“Tell me about this Mr. Lestrange.”

“He’s a friend of the Ellingtons who live in the big house here. He’s engaged in big business and I think Mr. Ellington has some connections in it. I don’t really know much about it. But I expect it has something to do with diamonds. He lives in Kimberley, you see, and when he came over Myra Ellington and he fell in love and married.”

“It sounds like a whirlwind romance.”

“It was. He was a widower. I gathered his wife died … not long ago. He probably came to England to get away from it all … and he met Myra Ellington.”

“So it all turned out well for him.”

“The fact of the matter is that they are going back to Kimberley. I believe they will actually be sailing on the same ship.”

“I’d like to meet Mr. and Mrs. Lestrange.”

“I don’t suppose you will. Are you going back tomorrow?”

“I thought I’d come and see you off.”

“Oh!” I was amazed but inordinately pleased. I kept thinking how strange it was that he should continue to show such interest. I had told myself many times that it was because I was still smarting from Jamie’s rejection … but it was something beyond that. I hated to confess it, but one of the reasons why I regretted leaving England was because I should never see him again. That was quite foolish, I knew; I constantly reminded myself that all I meant to him was an interesting case which had brought him quite useful success.

“I’ve booked in at the Royal Oak,” he said. “I thought I could travel down to Tilbury with you and be of some help.”

“What a lovely idea! But can you spare the time?”

“Just about,” he said.

“Are you comfortable at the Royal Oak?”

“Very comfortable.”

“That’s good, because it is the only hotel around here.”

“I’m glad it’s so near. Tell me about the school.”

“I don’t know much except what I have told you already. I am sure we shall be able to manage all right. Lilias is a wonderful teacher, and I shall try to follow in her footsteps.”

“And this has all come about through Mr. Lestrange. What do you know of him?”

“Only what I’ve told you. He’s engaged in the diamond business; he’s apparently wealthy; he’s a widower with a son named Paul; he is considered to be very attractive and is a good match for Myra Ellington.”

“What about Myra herself?”

“I don’t know much about her either. She is very pleasant and quiet … not like her mother. She’s very good at … doing what she is told. I could never understand why she has not married long ago. I should not have thought Mrs. Ellington would have been the sort of woman to allow her daughter to remain unmarried. But I suppose most of them want to ensure their daughters’ financial security … and with Myra, Mrs. Ellington does not have to consider this. It seems that she is quite well off in her own right.”

“Perhaps I shall meet them.”

“Perhaps. But everyone’s very busy. Mrs. Crown has been very good. She has arranged everything for us. We are spending our last night in England in a hotel called Harbour View, which speaks for itself, and we shall be right on the spot for the day we sail.”

“I’ll book in there.”

I must have shown my surprise, for he said: “I feel responsible for you! After all, I introduced you to Mrs. Crown.”

“It was the best thing you could have done.”

“I do hope so,” he said fervently.

Daisy came out with some coffee.

“Miss Jane thought you could do with this,” she said.

There was a small table under a tree and she set the tray on this; and we drew up our chairs.

“This is delightful,” said Ninian.

I was happier than I had been for a long time—just for a moment; then the thought hit me: I am going right away … out of the old life … out of his life.

He watched me as I poured out the coffee. I wondered what he was thinking and what had really prompted him to come so far to see me before I left.

He said suddenly: “If this should not work out … if you should want to come home for any reason … let me know. I’ll do what I can to arrange it.”

“You are so good. And all because you defended me. There must be so many …”

He shook his head. “It was unfair, that verdict. It rankles.”

“I see.”

“One day perhaps …”

I waited and he shrugged his shoulders. “It has happened, you know. The truth comes out, even after years.”

Then we talked of those young women who, as Lilias and I were doing, had left their homes to go away and work in foreign countries. I told him about the letters we had read in the Society’s offices. He was very interested, but he kept bringing the conversation back to Roger Lestrange.

He stayed to dinner. It was clear to me that he had made a good impression on the vicarage family.

Lilias said, after he had left for the Royal Oak: “What a charming man! It is so kind of him to care about what happens to you.”

I was very happy that night. I dreamed that I was sailing away from England, and Ninian Grainger was standing on the dock watching. Then suddenly he lifted his arms and cried loudly: “Don’t go! Don’t go!”

I knew that I must not go, that it was wrong for me to go. I tried to leap overboard, but someone was restraining me, saying: “You can’t go back. None of us can go back. It’s too late … once you’ve started.”

And that was Roger Lestrange.

THE NEXT DAY my pleasure in Ninian Grainger’s care was dampened.

It was in the morning. Daisy came to my room and said: “There’s a visitor for you, Miss Grey. In the sitting room.”

I went down, expecting to see Ninian. It was Zillah.

She looked even more beautiful than I remembered. She was dressed in a black silk dress with a big green bow at the neck and a black hat with a green feather which tipped down to her eyes, calling attention to their colour.

“My dear!” she cried, embracing me. “How wonderful to see you! I had to come. I’m going to see you off. I’m staying at the Royal Oak.”

“Oh,” I said blankly.

She laughed almost coyly. “Who do you think is staying there? Your Mr. Grainger. Well, it’s the only one, isn’t it? And I couldn’t expect to be put up at the vicarage. I hope you’re pleased to see me. I’m not really very happy about all this, you know. You’ll be so far away. I had hoped we could be together. Oh, I do hope this is going to be the right thing for you.”

“I had to get away,” I said. “And this seems as good a method as any.”

“It’s so sad. But I mustn’t go on about it. We’ve got to make the best of things, haven’t we? How have you been getting on in this place? I’m longing to meet your friend, Lilias. I wonder what she’ll feel about me. I took her place, didn’t I … in the house, I mean.”

“You’ll like her. She’s a wonderful person.”

“Oh, I do hope this is going to be all right.”

She meant well, and it was good of her to take the trouble to come. But she had shattered an illusion.

I did not realise until then how deeply I had been affected by “Ninian’s coming here.

I had been very foolish. I had been so stimulated, so happy because I had thought he had been so apprehensive on my account that he had come down to see for himself what was happening. I had had a ridiculous feeling that he was regretting having introduced me to Mrs. Crown and that he was going to beg me to relinquish the project and go back with him to Edinburgh so that we could fight together to prove I had played no part in my father’s murder.

I was naive. I was reaching out for someone to care for me … someone to fill that bitter void left by Jamie.

Face facts, I admonished myself. You are going away … right away from the old life, from everyone you ever knew— except Lilias.

He came because she was coming. You were misled by Jamie once. Be on your guard that it does not happen again.

I saw a good deal of Ninian during the next day. We talked a good deal. I felt that he knew as much about the place to which I was going as I did. Zillah was there, too.

On the morning before the day we were due to leave for Tilbury, I went down to the village to buy a few oddments which I had found I needed and Ninian had said he would accompany me.

Zillah, who happened to arrive at that moment, said she would join us.

It was on our way back from the village that we met Roger Lestrange. He was riding a big grey horse from the Ellington stables and he lifted his hat as we approached.

“Miss Grey. Ah, the last-minute shopping. All ready to sail?”

I introduced them. I could sense Ninian’s interest. He had always wanted to hear all he could about Roger Lestrange.

I noticed that the latter was surveying Zillah with appreciation while she put on that especially seductive air she used for attractive men.

“We are going to see the dear child off on her travels,” said Zillah. “It is going to be very sad for me.”

“I am sure it will be.” He spoke soothingly.

Ninian said: “I understand you are from South Africa.”

“Yes, it’s my home now. I shall be returning to it on the Queen of the South.”

“Oh yes. I understood you would be sailing on her.”