‘Hettie had left, and although Miss Gillies charged Greer with their care, Greer also had duties that she sometimes had to undertake at the house and the children were often about unaccompanied. William fell either at night or early morning.’

‘I assume Mary was not there.’

‘No, indeed not.’

I did not say anything, but that sliver of dislike for Hettie pressed at me harder. ‘If Hettie had not left as she did, William would still be alive.’

‘He would,’ she acknowledged.

‘And the twins must still have been grieving terribly for their mother when she made that decision.’

‘It was selfish. One of the big American ships stopped here for trade. She went down with the children and showed much interest. I believe she was found flirting with one of the passengers. The next morning she had packed her trunk and gone. She left a brief letter but did not say goodbye, even to William or Mary. Such thoughtless cruelty.’

‘How long had she minded them?’

‘About four years, I should say.’

‘Why would she leave? Miss Gillies said that she took her mistress’s death very hard. Was that the cause?’

‘She did, that is true. Who knows? She was young and if she was ambitious there is very little here at Skelthsea to help her on that path. I imagine America would have been an exciting prospect for a woman such as she. Perhaps that attracted her. She was pretty too. I imagine she wanted a husband and the men here may not have offered enough for her taste.’

‘Had she made no alliances on Skelthsea?’

‘I did not say that. She made several conquests during the years she was here but, as I said, I believe she was ambitious.’

‘Do you have children?’ I asked.

She turned half away from me. ‘That was never to be.’

Embarrassed, I took up my cup. ‘What was Mary like before? Before William’s accident?’

‘I was great friends with their mother. She was my closest friend here.’ She took an album from a table and placed it on my lap. ‘Happier days, alas, but you can see the twins as they once were.’

It opened to a photograph of the Argylles, but further on, I reached a print of a woman and Mrs Argylle seated on a rug, half shaded by the circles of their parasols.

‘That is Evangeline.’

Her likeness to Miss Gillies was evident immediately although she looked happier – an easier character than her sister, I suspected. Without a scar to mar her looks, she was clearly very lovely.