Bartholomew put the packages containing candles, length of rope, pot of pitch and block of fish salt down in the lugger and looked about for a bundle of horsehair brushes. It was now his job to give the Young Maid a fresh coat of pitch and after that he, Matthew and Paul would launch their rowing boat and indulge in some free-trading. After that again he would walk to the outskirts of the manor’s parklands, and there underneath a sycamore tree he would leave two marbled pebbles, a sign to Ameline that he would meet her in Trelynne Cove in two days’ time.

Bartholomew had had no success in gaining any information from Ameline to fuel his suspicion that there was Pengarron blood in his family. He had soon given up this course. She was unwilling to talk about the Pengarrons or their history. She didn’t speak much about any other subject either and he concluded that she knew little of life unless it concerned how to dress, how to act and react in genteel society, and how one day to be mistress of her own household.

He had warmed to the girl during their meetings in Trelynne Cove. With all the pretensions of her class put aside after their first meeting he discovered an awkward and shy, yet quite intelligent, caring being. It was a long time before he had put his arms about her and held her close, and he did so many times before her natural rigidity gave way and he felt her soft feminine body as it really was. It was only on their last meeting, three days ago, that he had actually kissed her. He had not taken any liberties but had asked her if he might do so. They were sitting side by side on her pony’s blanket on the very same boulder of black granite where he had sat with Kerensa the summer before.

He kept the first kiss short and simple, barely touching her lips. Then she turned her head away again. Bartholomew waited patiently. Every time they had met he had reassured her she was not to worry about them being seen. As a fisherman he lived by his senses as much as by brute strength and fortitude. If anyone was about he was sure he would know and he knew Trelynne Cove well enough to be able to disappear rapidly among the rocks.

After what he judged was a suitable length of time he said softly. ‘Am I to be satisfied with just one kiss, Ameline?’