‘Oh, I don’t know.’ Nell considered the question; most of the houses were low sandstone cottages with neat pantile roofs; one or two had well-tended planters by their doors. Numbers five and six were no less orderly, but were built of red brick, and were set further back. All the houses were silent, their windows blank and grey, and it was impossible to tell if they were occupied or not. Nell wondered if the three of them might be the only inhabitants of the whole yard.

‘I think,’ she said, ‘it depends how you look at it.’

Maude followed her gaze, ‘Yeah?’ she said.

‘Do we have to do this now?’ asked Chris, squeezing past, ‘Can’t the history lesson wait?’

Maude chose not to take her father’s side, for a change. ‘Those look new,’ she said, ‘so, the houses are numbered in the order they were built?’

‘Not our place and maybe not the cottages, but yes – anything that came after them.’

Maude absorbed this. ‘Right,’ she said, then she pointed to the next house, which was about halfway up the steps. ‘Is that us, then?’

‘No.’ SPINNAKER COTTAGE was engraved on a brass plate fixed to the bright blue door. ‘We’re right up at the top.’ Nell couldn’t be sure, but there seemed to be movement at one of the windows, someone watching them perhaps as they gawped at the yard like a bunch of tourists. They had shown Maude the pictures, of course, when they’d booked it, but she’d barely acknowledged them, dismissing her father’s enthusiasm for the house, the town, the whole trip with a single word: whatever. Twelve going on twenty-one, as Chris had taken to saying.

It wasn’t so easy to dismiss in real life. Elder House stood at the top of the steps, stiff, formal, imposing, looking down on the rest of the yard. It was rigidly symmetrical, solid, with stone mullioned windows and diamond shaped lead lights. The roof was slate, and there was a grey-greenish tinge to the dressed stone; it was old – but unlike its neighbours – there was some-thing untouched about it.

Dark, Nell thought, the way the house backed up against the cliff like that, she doubted it ever got much direct sunlight, even at midday. And it didn’t look like a holiday let, there was nothing quirky or inviting about it. She turned and looked down the yard. The way it veered ever so slightly to one side meant it was impossible to see the street from here; the effect was oddly isolating.

Chris paused and called down to them, ‘Are you two coming, then?’

Maude rolled her eyes, ‘Yes. Right. Fine.’ Nell took her time following her.