For a moment I froze.

“Ah! Touched a nerve, did I? So we guessed right. She thought it must be you, when I gave a description. Want to hear more?”

I moved the needle under, over, through. Another stitch. And another.

“Won’t tell him that, of course. The learned father. Doesn’t need to know, does he? Your guilt is plain; we need add no more fuel to that fire.” He gave a sort of giggle. It was not a pleasant sound. “Joke in bad taste, sorry. Anyway, as I was saying. Had a very interesting time on my recent trip to your homeland, young woman. Lost a few men; that was unfortunate. Failed to secure the outpost I wanted; that was even more regrettable. But once I have the resources of Harrowfield at my disposal, there’ll be no stopping me. Minor setback. That was all. Put it behind me. The information I got, that’s a different matter.”

He leaned forward, eyes intent.

“Ways to make a hot fire. Ways to make a very special fire that consumes a body, leaving only bare bones behind. I’ve seen it employed. He showed me. One of your own kind; but he’s a man after my own heart. Astute. Battlesmart. Decisive. No false ideals about Eamonn. He’ll trade in what you want, if it suits him. Men. Arms. Information. If you’ve got something he wants, he’ll give.”

I was hard put to it to go on working, and I did not succeed in keeping my face calm. Eamonn. Eamonn of the Marshes? Doing deals with a Briton? I could scarce believe it. Both my father and Seamus Redbeard had considered Eamonn one of their staunchest allies. Hadn’t he been wed to Eilis? Who was playing games now?

“We’re not all like Hugh, you know,” went on Richard studying my expression. “Full of pompous ideals and half-baked do-goodery. If we were all like that, it wouldn’t be just the islands that would be lost. Your kind would be swarming all over us like vermin, and nothing would be safe; it would be the end of the civilized world. Believe me, it’s men like myself that hold the land secure so Hugh can potter about with his chickens and plant his precious oaks.”

I was staring at him now, not even pretending to go on working.

“Made the bargain of my life, this last trip. Told you before about that woman, didn’t I, remarkable woman, didn’t give her name, but she was a friend of Eamonn’s, hand in glove they were, and she’d been particularly interested in you last time we spoke. Told me that story, about the children of Sevenwaters and how they mysteriously disappeared.”

My heart was thumping. Woman? What woman? Surely he could not mean Eilis?

“I made an offer then. Said if you were Colum’s daughter, I’d accept payment for your safe return. Payment in land, preferably. A nice little parcel between the forest and the coast. Colum wouldn’t like that. But they said he’d gone half crazy, looking for the girl. Maybe he was crazy enough to give me what I wanted. It was worth a try.”