He was still there when George came along. George had only seen him a few times on previous visits to the islands, but the common interest in natural history was strong enough to allow the sort of easy conversation which usually comes with friendship. The boy heard him approaching, looked up, and smiled.

“I think I’ve just seen a short-toed lark,” he said. “ I was wondering if I should go up to the school and tell Jonathan. He might want to see it in his lunch break.”

“No, don’t go,” George said quickly. “ I’ll tell Jonathan when I go back.”

They watched the bird together. George confirmed the identification, then there was a relaxed and friendly silence.

“Why did you decide to come home?” George asked.

“I didn’t decide. It was decided for me.” Will put down his binoculars. “What’s going on here?” The question came out in desperation.

“Did your mother tell you about Robert?”

“She said that he had died. In a shooting accident.”

“I don’t think the police even believe that it was an accident. He was murdered. Like Mary.”

“Mary fell over the cliff.”

“She was pushed.”

George thought that Will was going to cry. It was all too much for him to take in. His arrogance had disappeared and he seemed very young.

“Why didn’t they tell me?” Will said. He was angry and upset. “Why did they hide it from me?”

“I’m the only person who is certain that it was murder.”

“Who did it?”

“I don’t know yet. I need your help. Mary had a secret. She knew something about someone on the island which would have caused so much embarrassment that she had to be prevented from telling it. I believe that Robert found out about it, too, so he had to die.”

“No,” Will said. “ It can’t have happened like that.”

“Tell me why?”

Will struggled to find the words to explain. “What matters is appearance. The whole island might know of something going on, but as long as no one admits that they know, life can continue as usual. It’s the only way, I suppose, that people have managed to live on top of each other for all these years.”

“But if Mary were to discover a secret like that, she would make a fuss about it. No one would be able to pretend, then, that they didn’t know.”

“But you don’t understand,” Will cried. “ The secret probably wasn’t terrible at all. It was probably a little thing. Certainly nothing to commit murder for. It might be a major scandal here if the teacher refuses to go to church or someone kisses someone else’s wife after having too much to drink on Friday night, but it’s not a matter of murder.”

George spoke quietly.

“You believe you know Mary’s secret, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

He put his head in his hands.