I think of Cara climbing up that rope. Are we talking about some completely different girl now? Besides, if Tóla loves his daughter so much, why is he making her stay at Winterfalls when she hates it there? Wouldn’t he want her at home where he could see her every day? A man who’s as ready as Tóla is with his bags of silver needn’t worry about safety. He could hire a whole team of bodyguards for her. Wolf Glen may not be the easiest place to work, but there’s folk will take any job if you pay them well enough.

‘You must have known Cara as long as anyone,’ I say as the lights from Tóla’s house come in sight. Torches burning, showing the way home. ‘Since the day she was born, I’m guessing.’

‘Not quite so long,’ Gormán says. ‘But since she was very small, yes. Cara wasn’t born at Wolf Glen. Her mother went away to stay with kinsfolk. Took time to recover.’ He takes a look at the sleeping girl, cradled in my arms. ‘Cara was easy to love,’ he says, a smile in his voice. I’m thinking, not for the first time, that this would be a good sort of man, the kind anyone would want for a friend, if he wasn’t – what, exactly? Something’s holding that good man in check a lot of the time, stopping him from speaking out, binding him to Tóla’s rules. ‘I can remember the look on her little face the day they came back here, her and Suanach,’ he says. ‘Took her first steps that day, trying to go after some chickens. Big beaming smile, more gaps than teeth. Apple of everyone’s eye. Still is.’

‘Sad that she lost her mother so early.’

‘It was, and for Master Tóla most of all. Another reason why he’s touchy about his daughter’s safety. Please watch what you say to him. It’s been good having you here, doing the work. Wouldn’t want to have to find a replacement.’

‘That a threat?’ I keep my tone light.

‘A caution. Go lightly. If Cara wants to tell her father there were voices down in that hole, then I’m not going to stop her. But if she doesn’t tell him, best that you don’t say anything about that. What you heard her say, I mean. Tóla fears the uncanny above all things. He believes the heartwood house is the answer to those fears. If we hadn’t found Cara . . . if she’d come to harm . . .’

‘I’ve worked that out,’ I say. ‘You can be sure I won’t blurt out anything that’s going to get Bardán into any more trouble. If it gets me in trouble, so be it. I can handle it.’