There was a general move towards the main conference room and the promise of food. Louisa found herself standing next to Marnie as they queued for homemade soup and hot rolls. They looked at each other appraisingly, both aware that after the exposing and sharing of such intimate stories, the relationships of everyone in the room had inevitably changed. Surprisingly Marnie spoke first.

‘We got off to a bad start, you and I,’ she said gruffly, her longing for acceptance getting the better of her habitual defensiveness. ‘I’m sorry if it was my fault.’ She gave a little shrug. ‘It usually is. I’m hopeless at first approaches. I can’t seem to get the hang of them.’

‘And I was an unfriendly cow,’ said Louisa quickly. ‘But I was fascinated by what you wrote. We’ve had completely opposite early experiences. I’d love to hear more. Shall we go for a walk together this afternoon? I need to blow some cobwebs away after all that introspection.’

She thought Marnie might refuse and was pleased when she nodded. ‘Sure. I’d like that. I was quite unprepared for the fascination of all those personal revelations – makes you look at everyone in a completely new way and want to know more. You can tell me about your recovery icon – I’ve always loved owls.’

‘And I want to know more about Kenneth and that old lady. I sensed she has become really important in your life. Am I right?’

‘She’s the most crucial part of my whole story – she’s the reason I’m here.’

‘Let’s meet after lunch and I’ll take you up the hill and we can sit by the burn and listen to curlews calling and put our worlds to rights.’

‘Okay. I’ll tell you about the old lady. It only takes one person to alter your whole way of looking at things and she did that for me.’ She made a wry face. ‘But old habits sure die hard – I’m still working on it after twenty years!’

They didn’t attempt to sit next to each other at lunch, not wanting to start on their exchange of histories until they were alone, but as soon as the meal was over they headed up the hill behind the house.

Christopher Piper watched the two young women depart and set off in the opposite direction – something he seemed to be doing rather often lately, he thought. He too had been absorbed by the stories, looking at all his fellow students with new eyes and wanting to know more about them. In particular he would have liked to know more about the events in the West Indies – which must surely have been responsible for turning Marnie into such an awkward, distrustful character – and also about the unexpected shadows in Louisa’s otherwise apparently sunlit life. Few people turn out to be quite what they seem on first meeting, and he thought wryly that this would certainly apply to him too. It had occurred to him before lunch that he would like to suggest to Louisa that they might go for a walk in the afternoon, but apparently Marnie had got in first – and anyway he wasn’t sure that he was prepared to get into a close conversation with Louisa Forrester, much as he felt drawn to her. It might prove awkward.