Miss Silver had a good deal to think about when she finally came out of the shop. Miriam had not impressed the village favourably. Jenny had. Mrs. Dean was loud in her praise.

“As nice a young lady as ever stepped. And they say that she’s got a fortune, too. But there, perhaps I shouldn’t have said that. The fact is, Mr. Richard’s a favourite here, and everyone ’ud be glad to see him fixed up with a nice young wife. That girl that was murdered, she was after him, you know. But there, least said soonest mended, and I shouldn’t get talking.”

Miss Silver smiled. She had a gift for drawing people out, and, as Frank Abbott had often said, it was not done of design. When she showed interest it was because she was genuinely interested. As she stepped into the street she became aware of Jenny Forbes. She was just coming out of the other shop, and at the sight of Miss Silver she stopped and said, “How do you do?” Miss Silver found the meeting a pleasant and, she hoped, a propitious one.

“I was on my way to see Miss Danesworth. Perhaps I might walk with you.”

“Yes, do.”

Jenny’s quick smile flashed out and her colour rose. She was nervous. Now why? It was the same thing which Miss Silver had noticed at their first meeting. And yet Jenny was not a nervous type. She should have a confidence which was quite plainly lacking.

“You must be wondering why I have come here again,” she said, turning to Jenny.

Jenny changed colour. One moment she was pale, the next all a bright blush.

“Oh, no-no,” she said in confusion.

Miss Silver smiled.

“My dear, why are you embarrassed?”

“Oh, I’m not,” said Jenny quickly.

“I think that you are. And I think that I should like to know why. It is possible that you know something that you have not told. If that is the case, I would beg you to think very carefully of what you may be doing.”

“Of what I may be doing?” Jenny’s voice was a startled one.

“Yes, my dear. That boy in prison at Colborough-if you know anything at all you owe it to him to be perfectly frank.”

Jenny’s heart was beating so fast that she stood still. She did not seem to have enough breath to carry her feet forward-not with her heart thumping like this. She said unevenly,

“To be perfectly frank? But I don’t know anything-I don’t indeed. It’s only-only-”

“Yes, my dear?”

Jenny had turned round and was looking at her. They had both stopped. Before them lay the dip in the road. Then it rose again, and just beyond the dip were Miss Danesworth’s cottage and Mrs. Merridew’s small house.

Jenny raised her eyes to Miss Silver’s face. What she saw there apparently reassured her. She felt steadier. Her mind cleared. All at once the only thing that mattered was that she should tell the exact truth. She said,

“I’ve been troubled.”

“I can see that, my dear.”

“If I tell you-you see, I don’t know if it will hurt anyone-” She stood there with her lips parted looking at Miss Silver, who was very grave.

“I cannot tell you that. I can only say that if wrong has been done, the consequences should fall upon the wrongdoer, and not upon an innocent stranger.”

Jenny said, “Yes-that’s what I keep on saying to myself. If he hasn’t got anything to do with it-and he can’t, he can’t- Oh!” She put up her hands to her face for a moment and covered her eyes as if to shut something out.

Miss Silver’s gaze was full of compassion. She spoke very gently.

“I think that you must tell me what you are afraid of.”

Jenny dropped her hands. The tears were running down. She said,

“I don’t know-I don’t know what I ought to do-I don’t indeed-”

And then all at once she did know. She held her hands together tight, tight, and she said,

“That boy-he said there was a note. For me. He took it back afterwards and pretended that he hadn’t said it. It was a note addressed to Miss Jenny Hill. That’s what I was called before I came here. It was my mother’s name, and they thought-everyone thought that my father hadn’t married her, so I was called Jenny Hill, which was her name. And then I heard Mrs. Forbes and her son talking. I didn’t mean to listen, but I’d been crying, and I was sitting behind the curtain in the schoolroom. There’s a window seat with a curtain in front of it. I was there, and they came in, and Mac told his mother he had been to Somerset House and he had got a copy of the certificate-my father and mother’s marriage certificate. And he said the place belonged to me, but there was no need to tell me anything. He would marry me, and if I ever found out, it wouldn’t matter then. So I ran away in the night, and I met Richard who is a distant cousin, and he brought me here.” Jenny’s tears had dried. She felt drained and empty, but quite calm.

Miss Silver was looking at her very kindly. Her mind was turning over the things that might have happened, and she came very near to the truth. That Jenny was speaking honestly and sincerely she had no doubt at all. She said,

“Do you mean, my dear, that you actually heard Mrs. Forbes and her son discussing this matter?”

“Yes.”

“And that they decided to keep you in the dark, persuade you to marry your cousin, and trust to your not finding out?”

“Mrs. Forbes didn’t want him to marry me. She said so.”

“And he? I don’t want to ask what you would rather not answer, but I think you must see that it affects the question of whether he is to be trusted or not.”

Jenny shook her head.

“No,” she said, “he is not to be trusted. That was why I came away. I didn’t feel I could stay after I had heard them talk. They didn’t pretend to each other, you know. And they didn’t think of me at all-that was quite plain. They only thought about keeping the property. Mac said that it wouldn’t matter so much if I found out after he had married me, but that it wouldn’t be safe unless he did, because I might find out.”

Miss Silver found herself shocked.

“You are quite sure about this?”

Jenny said simply, “I heard him say it. I wouldn’t have ever thought of such a thing unless I had to.”

All this time they had been standing in the road which led up to the two houses, Miss Danesworth’s and Mrs. Merridew’s. As if she had finished all that she had to say Jenny turned and began to walk towards the houses. Miss Silver followed her.

“And you met your cousin?” she said.

“Yes, I met Richard. Wasn’t it a good thing?” The animation had returned to Jenny’s voice. It was as if she had put away her old life with its pain and its disappointment and had turned back again into the new life with Richard.

“Had you known him before?”

“Oh, no. I didn’t know that he existed. It was the middle of the night, you know, and I saw a car coming, so I stepped out into the road to stop it. And it was Richard. I made him get out, because I couldn’t drive away with just anyone, and I wanted to see if I could trust him. And when I saw him-oh, it was wonderful, because he was the exact image of the Richard Forbes whom he is called after! I could see him quite plainly because there was a very bright moon, and when I saw him I did think that I was dreaming-just for a minute, you know. I asked him who he was, and he said, ‘My name is Richard Forbes.’ And I said, ‘I’ve seen you before.’ And when he said, ‘Where?’ I told him, ‘All my life.’ I said, ‘You’re the portrait in the hall-the picture of Richard Alington Forbes.’ And he said, ‘That’s my name.’ ” She stopped speaking. All her colour had come back and her eyes shone. “It was a wonderful thing to have happened,” she said.

“Yes, it was. How did he come to be there?”

“He was going to see them at Alington House, but he’d been delayed on the way, and he thought that he would drive a little nearer and then sleep in the car until the inn was open, and have breakfast, and then go round.”

“Did they know he was coming?”