“Perhaps. But that’s how I feel. I tried to explain to them in Glasgow but they couldn’t understand. They thought I was making excuses.”

“There’s Ben,” Sarah said. “ You have to make a future for him.”

“They said that in Glasgow too. And they were right. Of course they were right. But they didn’t know how guilty I felt, and that it helped sometimes to think that I wasn’t entirely responsible.”

“Elspeth,” Sarah said, “ what happened in Glasgow?”

She was quite sure that Elspeth was preparing to tell her everything. She felt very close to the other woman. She could smell the wet wool of the shawl mixed with the odour of salt and seaweed. Sheltered by the cliffs, they could see nothing of the island, and the middle-aged gossips in the tidy white houses seemed a thousand miles away.

Then around the bottom of the cliff, looking out of place in his working clothes, walked Kenneth Dance. He was wearing Wellingtons over his grey trousers, but the tie, the neat waistcoat, and grey jacket made it seem that he had left the post office in a hurry. He was obviously finding the exertion of the walk uncomfortable, and stopped to catch his breath.

“Damn that man,” Elspeth said. “He’s spying on me. He follows me everywhere.”

“He can’t hear us.”

“It’s no good. He doesn’t trust me. He’s come to take me home to face the police.”

Sarah expected her to walk down the beach towards her father, but she ran away up the cliff, her shoes in her hand and the shawl in a tangled mat around her shoulders. Kenneth Dance looked helplessly as she disappeared, then walked back the way he had come.

As he went the plane flew in again.

George was surprised to find Sylvia waiting for him at the Baltasay airport in a hire car.

“Jonathan telephoned me and said you were coming.” she said, “I thought this would save you the bother of coming to find me.”

“It was kind of you.”

“Oh, I’ve been starting to feel bored again. Baltasay isn’t very much more entertaining than Kinness.”

She turned to him and smiled and he felt that she was pleased to see him.

“Where do you want to go?” she asked.

“Would you mind if we had tea? I missed lunch. Perhaps we could have a proper island tea with scones and cakes.”

She laughed, and as she tipped back her head her long earrings moved and reflected the warm colour of her skin. He was glad to be alone with her.

She took him to the hotel where James had courted Melissa. It had not changed very much. They sat in a large, gloomy lounge, surrounded by dark stained wood. They were alone.