‘Aye, well, we will see. If he does turn up, I may not want him back, the trailing little bugger.’ Danny wished his father had never brought Ethan to Crummock in the first place.

Rosie sat up high on the hillock called the Knot and looked down on the farmhouse. Swallows and house martins were diving and swooping, catching the last flies and midges of the summer’s evening as the sun began to sink lower and lower in the sky. They too were going to take flight to warmer shores for the onset of winter. She hugged her knees close to her and rocked to console herself. Please let Ethan return, she thought to herself. Don’t let him be the gypsy that everyone has branded him to be. She loved him and thought he loved her. At least it had felt like that. How could she have been so wrong? Her heart would always be his, of that she was sure. As for their secret, well, that was what it would be kept as, for the next few months at least, until his return.

15

15

Danny rode up the path to Windfell, straight to the stables, and dismounted at once when he saw Jethro came out to meet him.

‘Mister Danny, it’s good to see you.’ Jethro took the horse’s reins and patted its neck. ‘Mistress Isabelle is at Skipton, if you were looking for her, but Mister James is at home.’

‘It’s you I’ve come to see really, Jethro.’ Danny looked at the well-built man and searched his face for any inkling that he knew why he was here. ‘It’s Ethan; he’s left us, and I wondered if perhaps he’d come home.’

‘Nay, he’s not here, we hardly see him nowadays. He breaks my Mazy’s heart many a day, never showing his face. He used to come regular, but he seems to be a law unto himself since he went to live at Crummock. I’ll make sure I send him straight back to you, if I see anything of him. He’s got wandering feet, has our Ethan, never knows when he’s well off. The silly bugger.’ Jethro sighed and looked at Danny. ‘He’s not done owt he shouldn’t, has he?’

‘Not that I know of, Jethro. But he has taken everything with him and it looks like he’s left for good.’ Danny looked as the old man’s face as it clouded over with worry.