‘Will you be having meals at the B&B?’ Thea asked, her practical streak diverting her from pleasure that Ben and Toby would be staying, and sorrow that it would only be for a few days. ‘Or will you have supper here, with us?’

‘They don’t do an evening meal,’ Molly replied. ‘But I thought I’d take us all out to the pub tonight, to save you cooking, Thea.’ It was just possible that Molly had looked in the fridge and seen the packet of mince that Thea thought she’d make spaghetti sauce with. She wasn’t into student food.

Thea accepted this invitation gratefully. She had managed to get away from her lodgers, or at least most of them, but the huge collection of permanently dirty mugs, plates and glasses seemed to have followed her.

‘Well, then,’ Rory said, still in party mood. ‘Who’s coming out in the boat, then?’

‘I will,’ said Thea. She wanted to talk to him and the cottage was too small for conversation.

Molly and Petal shuddered in unison. Toby looked at his father, who muttered something about ‘life jackets’. ‘We’ll hang on here and look after the pups, and perhaps arrange to borrow some.’

Toby sighed resignedly.

‘Suit yourselves. I’ll show Thea the seals.’

Rory was adept in the water and the little vessel was soon speeding away towards the islands, its outboard motor buzzing along bravely. Thea would have liked a life jacket herself, but she knew that Rory would think the idea feeble in the extreme.

‘There are always seals on this island.’ Rory pointed ahead to a lump of land which seemed completely bare apart from a few rocks. ‘See? Those dark shapes?’

Gradually, as they drew nearer Thea watched, fascinated, as one by one the shapes slid into the sea and came swimming towards them, as if warning them off. They all had distinctive markings, and their huge liquid eyes were strangely glamorous in their round faces and shapeless bodies. Only the old grandfather seal, scarred and leathery, didn’t bother to move from his patch of sunshine. People in boats weren’t much threat to him, especially if they weren’t fishermen.

After they had watched until all the seals had got bored and disappeared, Thea said, ‘Can we turn off the engine for a while? I want to talk to you. The house is so full of people that we might not get another opportunity.’

He switched off the engine. ‘Speak. And tell me why you stole my pillow but didn’t share my bed. The bath, indeed. You’re not a student, Thea.’

‘I know and that’s not what I want to talk about. This is serious, Rory. It’s about your work.’

‘Oh?’ Rory seemed on the defensive, as if she were about to tell him off.