‘There’s something I need to discuss with you and Giles that I don’t want to mention on the telephone. I’ve been thinking about it for quite a bit and I’d had it in mind that it might be a good moment when you brought your next Glendrochatt group over. You and I can have a blether over a cup of coffee while Hamish takes your visitors round the garden.’

‘I’m not sure that Giles was planning to come,’ said Isobel. ‘Do you need him too?’

There was a pause, while Evelyn considered for a moment. Then she said: ‘Perhaps not. In fact it might be better if it was just you and me.’

‘That sounds mysterious. Ought I to know what it’s about?’

Isobel paused encouragingly, hoping the old lady might elucidate a little, but Evelyn Fergusson was not to be drawn and just said: ‘Perhaps you know, perhaps you don’t. I’ll look forward to seeing you next week then, Izzy. Do make sure all your group have sensible footgear this time. There are quite a few boggy places even after this dry spell and if we get any rain before they come the dell could become a quagmire. We don’t want any more disasters like the time you brought that silly woman who came in stiletto heels and sprained her ankle.’

‘I’ll try to see they’re all properly kitted out,’ promised Isobel meekly, thinking that Morwenna, at least, would be suitably shod. She resisted the temptation to question her robust old relative any further because she knew it would not be the slightest use trying to pump Evelyn Fergusson for information once she had made up her mind to say nothing more.

Evelyn, who was her father’s first cousin, had been an important part of Isobel’s life for as long as Isobel could remember. Since she had no children of her own, Evelyn had regarded her favourite cousin’s daughters with special affection, and though she had actually been Lorna’s godmother, not Isobel’s, she had always treated the two girls with the same interested generosity. As they grew up, however, it had been Isobel to whom she had become closest and over the years a special bond had formed between them – something that was yet another bone of contention for Lorna to add to the great pile that she was constantly collecting. Lorna was not one to be bothered by elderly relatives – unless there was something in it for her – but she greatly resented her younger sister’s easy intimacy with her godmother.