‘Matthew went off to the war and was reported killed. Ya mam brought me a photograph of him. I – I still have it. It was a kind gesture. I’ve never forgotten that.’

Kate frowned. ‘But I – I thought me dad drowned. Here – at the Point?’

‘Matthew came back from the war a broken wreck of a man. Pitiful to see him, it was. Ya mam was wonderful then. She devoted herself to caring for him and he improved beyond what any of us ever thought possible. And that was down to Esther; with her strength and determination, she pulled him through. But she – she sacrificed her own chance of happiness to look after Matthew. I thought then, that somehow, in her own way, she must have loved him to do that.’

‘What do you mean, “her own chance of happiness”?’

Beth avoided Kate’s direct gaze, reluctant to answer. ‘She – she’d met Jonathan in the war – when ya dad was away.’

‘Oh – I see.’ Kate said flatly. She didn’t see it all, at least not clearly, but she could sense that Beth would not be drawn on that part any further. ‘And me dad – me real dad? Did he drown?’

Beth’s voice was a hoarse whisper. ‘There was a dreadful storm in the winter of nineteen-twenty. Matthew knew the boat we lived on wouldn’t stand up to the gales and the surging tide. He – drowned trying to rescue us – his son and – and me.’ Beth bowed her head and covered her face with her hands.

Kate gasped. This woman’s love for Matthew Hilton was still, even now, as strong as ever. Tentatively Kate put out her hand and touched Beth’s arm.

‘What about Mester Eland? Where – how does he fit into all this?’

Now there was a tender, loving smile on Beth’s mouth, a smile tinged with gratitude. ‘He loved me, he’d always loved me. As great a love as any man could have for a woman, Kate. When he knew I was expecting Matthew’s child, he married me to give Danny a name.’

Kate’s own voice broke. ‘He must have loved you very much to do that.’

Beth nodded. ‘Oh, he did. He still does. And I have loved him, truly I have, but in – in a very different way to the way I loved Matthew.’

She sighed deeply. ‘Robert’s been a good husband and a wonderful father to Danny, but he’s always been very resentful towards Matthew – and towards your mam. That’s why I’m glad to have been able to tell you about it mesen.’

Kate nodded. She was glad too, for the version Danny had heard from Robert Eland treated her mother and father far more harshly than did Beth – the woman who had been hurt most of all. Yet, it was understandable, Robert Eland, too, had suffered.