But then a familiar cry of pain made her remember exactly where she was. Colin! Mrs. Medlock must be in his room, forcing him to have more of the medicine he hated.

Mary shrugged off the dress and boa, and leaving them on the floor with the rest of the clothes, she hurried back into the first room and listened at the door. As she did so, she put her hand to her neck. She still had the pearls! She pulled them off and dropped them into the pocket of her dressing gown. She’d put them back later. Colin’s screams had turned to sobs now, and she could hear Mrs. Medlock leaving. As her footsteps echoed away down the stairs, Mary pushed the door open, intending to go to Colin, but just then, a sound on the landing made her hesitate.

She peeped out. Her uncle was walking quickly toward Colin’s room from the other end of the corridor. He arrived at Colin’s door and stopped. His hand reached for the door, but then he pulled it back, his face a mass of conflicting emotions.

Why isn’t he going in? thought Mary in astonishment. She knew that if she had been in pain and her father still alive, he would have rushed to her side.

Taking a deep breath, her uncle ran his hand through his hair, then turned and walked slowly back the way he had come.

At that moment, Mary hated her uncle with a passion. Why hadn’t he gone in and comforted Colin? Colin’s mother might have loved him, but his father obviously didn’t.

With her uncle and Mrs. Medlock out and about in the corridors, Mary didn’t dare risk going into Colin’s room again. Instead, she hurried back to her own bedroom. So much had happened that day—Jemima being caught in the trap, finding the garden and the hidden room with all those clothes and photographs, Colin telling her he was going to die. Mary thought about the photograph of her mother and aunt holding hands with two young children. Could it possibly have been her and Colin in the photo? But no. Colin had said he’d never been able to walk, and the girl couldn’t have been her because she’d never been to England. So who were those children?