Mags looked at me and I saw a sob rise in her throat. One hand moved up to cover her mouth, as if she couldn’t bear to let the words out. Then: ‘We looked for ages, Pet. The lifeboat sank, and pulled Faith down with it. Bits of boat were bobbing around in the waves. After I’d got my breath, I went back into the water to see if Pa had been trapped or caught on something.’ She swallowed, then she managed to say, ‘He wasn’t there. He wasn’t anywhere. I couldn’t find him.’

My throat was aching unbearably, and my chest too. I thought about the lullaby that I had sung to the sea as I prayed for Mags and Pa. I had felt so sure that some kind of magic was working . . . Just enough to bring Mags safely home, I thought. But not enough for my Pa.

We sat in silence. Tears ran, one after another, down my face.

Kipper stood up and said quietly, ‘I’ll leave you two alone, I think. I’d better get back to my mum. I sent word with one of the lads that I was all right, but I’d better get back . . .’ He trailed off. ‘I’m really so sorry about your dad,’ he said, and he went to the door.

‘Thank you, Kipper,’ said Mags.

He turned and nodded to her – holding her gaze for a moment – and then he left.

After a few seconds, I managed to smile and say, ‘Kipper Briggs saved your life.’

Mags shook her head and I saw that she could not understand any of the things that had happened. She just said, ‘He’s a good sailor, Kipper. He can turn that boat on a sixpence. He’ll make a fine captain one day.’

‘Kipper the Skipper,’ I said.

My sister attempted one of her grins.

‘Were you looking for Pa all night, Mags?’

She shook her head. ‘By the time we gave up the search, it was getting late. We couldn’t come back the way we’d come – straight across the Channel – because we wouldn’t have been able to avoid the mines in the dark – or the sandbank, for that matter – so we had to take a different route, a much longer one. We went north-east before crossing the Channel somewhere near Essex and then coming back down the English coast in the early hours of this morning. That route probably saved our lives.’

The magic of the stones helped too, I thought. But I didn’t say it out loud.

Then, quite suddenly, Mags gasped and said, ‘I’m so sorry, Pet – I’m sorry I couldn’t save our Pa. He wouldn’t even have been there if I hadn’t . . .’

I put my arms around my big sister’s middle, like I used to when I was a little girl.