But as she dressed quickly and hurried out she looked back and saw that the Crow was sitting more upright, with the old greedy gleam back in its eye, and she smiled secretly to herself.

At breakfast everyone was busy telling tales of their day at the Fair. Lady Mair sipped her coffee. ‘I did so enjoy it,’ she said. ‘And I think, dear, that it’s given me an idea.’

‘Really?’ The Captain was reading his newspaper but he put it down politely. ‘What about?’

‘I think it would be wonderful to revive the Plas-y-Fran Midsummer Ball.’

‘Oh.’ Seren gasped through a mouthful of toast. She had a sudden vision of a room of swirling dancers and a band playing wonderful music. ‘What, a dance? Here?’

Captain Jones laughed. ‘We haven’t had that since my father’s day.’

‘Exactly!’ Lady Mair’s eyes were shining. ‘It’s about time we started it up again.’

‘You won’t have much time. That’s tomorrow night.’

‘Will it be fancy dress?’ Tomos’s eyes lit up. ‘I could be a pirate. With a cutlass!’

‘I don’t know about that, old man.’ Captain Jones reached over and took his wife’s hand. ‘But if you really want to do it, my dear, go ahead. Have a chat with Mrs V, though. She’ll have plenty to say, I’m sure.’

Lady Mair squeezed his fingers. ‘Oh Arthur, it would be wonderful. I’ll start at once.’

‘And now I have some business to attend to.’ Captain Jones stood and went to the door. Then he turned, a little reluctantly. ‘I wonder, Seren, if you’d come to my study before your lessons. Just for ten minutes. Nothing important…’

Seren stared. ‘Yes, of course.’

She glanced at Tomos, who made a puzzled face.

Had she done something wrong? For a moment, a thread of worry went through her.

As she ate the rest of her toast and licked the orange marmalade from her fingers she tried to think what it was. Nothing really bad came to mind, though they had broken a little window in the stables with the cricket ball, but Tomos had hit it; she had just been bowling.

It couldn’t be that.

When breakfast was finished, she waited till Tomos had run upstairs and Lady Mair had gone out to her sitting room, and still she sat there, at the crumb-covered table, thinking.

Maybe they were going to send her away to school.

It had to happen sooner or later. There were no schools near Plas-y-Fran. Tomos would go to boarding school next year – he said he was looking forward to it, but she wondered if that was true. Sometimes he seemed a little nervous about the other boys, and the masters, and all the hearty games and sports. She knew all about living with other girls, and she didn’t really want to do that again.

And it wasn’t as if they didn’t have an expert teacher of their own!

She grinned, rubbing the crumbs with the tip of her finger.