Ben Rosevidney was deaf and dumb and during his many years’ employ at the Parsonage he and the Reverend had learned to communicate in signs and facial expressions and right now Ben was eloquently communicating his anxiety at the Reverend’s apparent reluctance to get going, pointing often in the direction of the manor. Sighing heavily the Reverend finally mounted his pony; if he was late it would only fuel Oliver’s ill humour with him.

Why could Oliver not understand, the Reverend reasoned with himself, that he and Kerensa kept quiet for the best of reasons? He kept his pony at a brisk trot but was ready to slow down if it meant being one minute early. If the truth had emerged before Samuel’s death, the Reverend firmly believed, to give himself a crumb of comfort, then the situation could have been even worse. Samuel had despised Oliver. If the fisherman had remained stubborn in his assertion never to accept Oliver as kinsman or take any offers of help or money, Oliver would have been hurt and furious. He was a titled member of the gentry, it would have been unthinkable for him to be snubbed by a poor fisherman. Oliver was used to having his own way. If he couldn’t have got in by the front door he would have tried the back, probably by using Jenifer and the children as pawns to achieve his own ends. There would have been a terrible clash because Samuel Drannock had been every bit as stubborn and proud as his half-brother.

And what of Bartholomew, the eldest of the Drannock brood? He resented the poverty his family lived in. He might have been set against his father’s wishes. Wilful, obstinate and bearing the Pengarron looks, would he feel he had the right, along with his brothers and sisters, to the Pengarron wealth and privileges? The Reverend had marked the changes in Bartholomew’s character over the years. He had not accepted his station in life and since his childhood had made large strides in bettering himself. Most importantly, with his mother’s help he strove to speak well and had learned to read and write far better than the basic skills. He was not going to be content to fish the seas all his life, even though the shared gift of the Young Maid had improved his prospects considerably.