“No,” Annie answered quietly. “You don’t understand. He won’t talk about it to anyone. The doctor explained that it’s too painful for him to think about it. She wouldn’t have found out from him.”

“I see,” George said. “I’m sorry. I had to ask. You do understand?”

They said nothing and he turned to go.

“Mr. Palmer-Jones!” Kenneth Dance called him back. “You won’t say anything?”

Dance knew in a way that the words were an insult, but he had to be sure.

“No,” George said. “ That’s for your daughter to do.”

George took the road to Sandwick. It was quicker over the fields, but there was no moon and he was not sure enough of the way. The extra distance he had to walk frustrated him. When he reached the house the lights were on and the curtains were drawn. Agnes opened the door to him.

“I’m sorry to disturb you,” George said. “I was hoping to speak to Will.”

“He’s in his bedroom. Shall I call him down?”

“No. That’s all right. I’ll go upstairs to him.”

He knew that once Will came downstairs they would have no privacy. She showed him the way and he knocked at the bedroom door.

Will was surprised to see him, but welcomed him in. He was listening to a tape of an Irish folk group, but turned off the cassette recorder and moved books and files from a chair so that George could sit down. It was a typical teenager’s bedroom. The remnants of childhood were still there—the board games and photographs of footballers—but there was a CND poster on the wall and Will’s own sketches of plants and birds.

“Jonathan has just phoned,” Will said. “To ask me to go ringing with him tonight. He wants to catch the swans on Silver Water. I thought I’d go. It would be something to do. Sarah was here when he phoned and she’s asked if she can come, too.”

“I want to talk to you about Elspeth,” George said. “You know, don’t you, why she was so upset at the sale in the hall?”

“No,” Will said quickly. “I don’t know.” But he was blushing.

“We don’t need to discuss it,” George said. “I don’t want to know any details. I just need to know if you told anyone else.”

The boy hesitated.

“Of course not.”

“You didn’t tell Mary? Didn’t you even hint to her that Elspeth might be hiding something she might be ashamed of?”

“Of course not. How could I? Mary was dead.”

“Then you didn’t see the report of the original court case last March?”