Peter ignored the implication of deceit.

“Tom always fancied her,” he said slowly. “He had a cottage on St. Mary’s, the summer she worked on Tresco. But I never thought that she liked him. Vanity I suppose. Is that why she ran away? Because she couldn’t face telling me that she liked him best?”

“No,” George said. “She ran away because she couldn’t face telling you that she was pregnant.”

Adam blushed, polished his glasses, wished that he was somewhere else. Rob tried to restrain a grin.

“Barnaby!” he said. “ Peter is Barnaby’s father! I can’t imagine Peter as a daddy.”

George continued seriously:

“For some time the police thought that Sally had murdered Tom. They may still suspect her. It’s a logical supposition. It was common knowledge that they had been arguing. Tom had found out from Ella that you had left Barbara and were thinking of living for a while in Rushy. He was terrified of losing her to you. He tried to persuade her to marry him. He threatened that he would have Barnaby put into care, then said that he would apply for custody of the child himself. I would have expected him to contact you, if he was that desperate. I’m surprised that he didn’t attempt to persuade you to stay away.”

Once again Peter ignored the question implied in the last sentence.

“Why did she stay with him?” he asked. “ If he treated her so badly, why didn’t she leave him?”

“Are you sure that you don’t know? It was because she felt obliged to him. He did her a favour. Perhaps you remember that the last time you saw her was at a party, Tom’s party.”

Peter nodded.

“You left early to get back to St. Agnes, and you left your jacket behind. In the pocket you had left some cannabis. Presumably you had obtained some for your own use. When there was a police raid, Sally persuaded Tom to say that the jacket belonged to him. She knew that you had a previous conviction for possession of cannabis, and she was afraid that you would go to prison. He pleaded guilty to the charge and received a probation order. Sally felt that it was her fault. Tom was able to use considerable emotional blackmail to tie her to him. Of course you should be grateful to him. Local authorities prefer not to employ teachers who’ve been to prison.”

Peter seemed shaken and dazed, though not by George’s harsh observation. He asked: “How old is Barnaby?”

“I’m no expert. About twelve months, I should think.”

“She was waiting for me to make up my mind to leave Barbara. I kept putting her off … How has she managed to bring him up? What has she done about money? What does he look like?”

“Perhaps you should ask Sally those questions. She’s working for Ella at the Windmill today. Barnaby will be there too.”

Peter was almost panic-stricken. He seemed to have lost all confidence.