Palmer-Jones was surprised to hear movement in the school house early that morning. He had not believed that Sylvia would leave the island. He had thought that her outburst was a dramatic expression of her frustration at being on Kinness, and that talking about it would be enough. Now the soft movement, the hurried whispers between husband and wife, suggested escape, and it seemed important that he should talk to Sylvia before she went.

She must have been on her way out when he heard her, because by the time he had dressed she had left the house. He went outside and a raw dampness made him put up the hood of his jacket. It was still quite dark and the immediate stretch of the road was hidden by a fold in the hill so he could not see her, but he knew that she must have followed the road towards the harbour. He was afraid that the boat would leave before he had the opportunity to speak to her and he started to walk more quickly. The cold air made him feel stiff and breathless, and he thought: when I was young I could have run this. The road turned, so that he should have had a view across the island towards the harbour, but a damp mist seemed to crawl down from the hill and he could see only a block of shadow to separate the hill from the sky. He stopped to listen, but there was no sound of footsteps. I must have missed her, he thought, but he walked on.

When he came to the derelict croft, he thought he heard whispered voices, but decided that it must be the wind in the stone. Taft, the croft was called, and it had been lived in by Dances before the depopulation of the islands began. He did not know that the boat would be late and was afraid that it would go before he could see Sylvia. Then he heard running footsteps behind him on the road. As he turned to see who it was the mist cleared from the hill above and he saw Robert staring down at him. The person running along the road was Sylvia. She seemed untidy, excited.

“Where have you been?” he asked. “ You may miss the boat.”

“I don’t think so,” she said. “ The lorry hasn’t passed yet.”

“I left the school house after you. Where have you been?”

She shrugged. “I don’t walk as quickly as you. I must have lost my way in the mist.”

There was no possibility that this could have been true.

“I heard people talking,” he said. “ Did you meet anyone?”

“No. Of course not. Who would I meet on a day like this?”

Alec’s car came along behind them then. He must have seen them in his headlights. The car stopped and he shouted:

“Do you want a lift down?”