I thanked her and moved off, but she held my cuff firmly and her unseemly grip on my coat and the familiar tone of her voice filled me with discomfort. I tried to pull away, mentioning the weather and the need to be home, but she brought her lips so close to my ear that I could smell her breath.

‘All is not well at Iskar,’ she whispered. ‘You feel it, don’t you?’

I opened my mouth but could find no answer and instead hurried to the beach, reaching the path a little breathless. I paused to refill my lungs and shivered. Stupid, I told myself, stupid, but against my will Ailsa’s words and the gravity of the way in which she spoke them slithered inside me and set up an echo to my own half-considered sentiments.

Later, after I had put Mary to bed, I made my way to the drawing room and found Miss Gillies sipping something hot and herbal in a tall glass. ‘Forgive me, Elspeth, I have a headache tonight.’

‘Is there anything I can do? Would you like me to read to you?’

She shook her head. ‘I will just sit here for a while and let this magic do its work. Mrs Lenister is a marvel with herbs.’

I settled myself on the sofa and took up some embroidery.

Miss Gillies lay back against the cushions. ‘I should probably have told you earlier, but a doctor is coming tomorrow to see Mary.’

‘A doctor?’ I asked in alarm.

‘He’s a friend of the family and I consulted him about Mary after William’s death and how it had affected her.’

She wiped a stray hair from her brow. ‘We arranged that he would come within two months to assess her improvements.’

‘And has she made them?’

She did not answer.

‘What was the doctor’s diagnosis?’ I asked.

‘Mary is not quite herself in her head, is she, Elspeth? Not quite as she should be.’

I understood her meaning then. He was not a doctor of the body but of the mind. This idea did not sit well with me.

‘Mary is a child who has experienced too much death, that is all,’ I said.

‘Of course, but one would have hoped that she might at least speak.’ Her eyes were slightly accusatory.

‘Love and kindness will heal her in time, surely.’

‘And that is where you do so well, Elspeth.’

I thought about that answer and how she appeared to have passed all responsibility for that role to a stranger such as myself. Although she cared for Mary enough to undertake lessons, there was too often a tone or a look that she passed to her niece that showed not love but dislike.