He nodded but first put both his hands behind his head and retied the piece of old string holding back his long raven hair. Then he gave a brief smile. ‘Thanks for the chat. I suppose we’ve told each other things we wouldn’t tell other people.’ He paused. ‘Would you mind if I come here again? It won’t be very often, I get very little free time. Usually it’ll be like today, a Sunday, when we don’t put to sea, and I’d come by myself.’

Kerensa smiled warmly at him. ‘As far as I’m concerned you are welcome to come here anytime you like. Why do you like to come here, Bartholomew?’

‘I like the isolation and at times I have a great need to be by myself.’

She watched his tall energetic figure leap expertly across the rocks then turned to gaze thoughtfully out to sea. Samuel Drannock was somewhere out there, drifting along on the currents or anchored amongst rocks or wreckage. Kerensa hoped for Jenifer’s sake his body would never be found. She hoped for her own sake the truth of who had fathered him would never come to light… and yet, wasn’t that selfish? It would mean the Drannocks would always be poor, dragged down by constant, thankless hard work with no prospects for a better future. Kerensa had often wished she could tell Oliver, but it would have been against Samuel’s and Jenifer’s wishes, and she felt they had the right to live by their own decisions. With Samuel dead, Jenifer still wished the secret to remain, it gave her peace of a sorts, and how could she go against that? But then again, why should the children suffer?

Kerensa walked slowly back to Kernick. To block out her dilemma over the Drannocks she took her mind back a few years and thought fondly of another young man who used to come to Trelynne Cove. Their meetings had not been by accident. She had waited eagerly for him to come and had run to the top of the cliff to meet him. They had strolled arm in arm across the beach and chased each other over the rocks. They had been very much in love but fate had decreed they would not marry.