She said: “He do say, Mistress, that on the road there he fancied me. He would have run off with me, he says, if orders hadn’t been different.”

“It is over now, Jennet,” I said, “and best forgotten.”

Best forgotten! I thought. What a foolish thing to say. How could something be forgotten which had changed one’s whole life, which had brought me my husband and the child I now carried.

“Jennet,” I said rather primly, “I suppose you will always be the same.”

“I suppose so,” she said with happy resignation.

I told Colum that I had been to Seaward Tower and met some of his servants who lived there.

“They are good men,” he said.

“And women.”

“They have their wives and women. That is necessary, you understand.”

“I understand. My Jennet has joined them.”

He burst out laughing. “It does not surprise me.”

“She has quickly found a lover there.”

“Jennet would find a lover anywhere. Who is the man?”

“I know none of them by name. But I thought I recognized the leader of your robber band.”

He laughed again.

“So they know of how I was tricked. I am not sure that I like that.”

“They are discreet. They are not like ordinary servants.”

“No, they do not seem so. I gather that they do special work for you.”

His bushy brows shot up. “What do you mean by that?”

“Such as abducting females on the road.”

“Such work they do admirably, you will admit.”

“They will be laughing at how I was duped.”

“They would not dare. They are good servants and wish me well. They are delighted to have had a hand in bringing me my present happiness.”

I was reconciled.

He put his arms about me gently and drew me to him. “You should not wander about the castle without me or someone with you. There are so many dangerous places … Those spiral staircases … you could so easily trip and fall. The cobbled courtyards, the unevenness of the stones and all the steep paths. You must not wander off alone. I forbid you to.”

“So must the husband of Nonna have talked to her! I am not allowed to ride. What may I do?”

“You may obey your husband. I place no restriction on that.”

“You are … despotic.”

“I am the ruler of my home.”

“The king of your castle.”

“Why should I not be? When the child is born you will have him to occupy you and then we will ride together out into the country. We will visit your parents. Perhaps we will call on the Landors. I heard that your would-be-husband has quickly become reconciled. He is to be married shortly. Of course she is a wealthy young lady. But he has taken his disappointment well, has he not?”

“I feel little interest in his affairs.”

“Why should you when you have a husband and a child of your own?”

“I am content,” I said, “deeply content.”

July had come, hot and sultry. I often climbed to the ramparts although I knew that Colum would have been displeased if he knew. Sometimes I took Jennet with me. I noticed how often her eyes strayed to the Seaward Tower.

She told me something of life in that tower, of the man who was her lover and who had taken her out in his boat on one occasion. They had fished and brought home their catch and it had been cooked and eaten at the table in the Seaward Tower.

“There are plenty of boats there and all those horses,” she said. It was an exciting place, the Seaward Tower. She had helped to clean the lanterns there. Never had she seen so many.

I was beginning to feel uncomfortable now. It could only be about six weeks from my confinement. I was so longing for my child to be born that the days seemed as though they would never pass. One day I wandered down through the inner ward and came at length to Ysella’s Tower. I looked at the iron-studded door and up at those grim, grey walls. Was the story true? It was impossible. How could a man keep someone’s identity secret for ten years? Surely she would have been seen? There would be a door on the other side of the tower similar to the one I had discovered in Seaward; there might be a little path there. Had that long-ago Casvellyn been as forceful as his descendants? I was sure he had. He would have forbidden Ysella and Nonna to leave their towers unescorted and perhaps he had good reason for this in view of what Colum had told me about the robbers on the road. I pictured Ysella up there waiting for the man she believed to be her husband and Nonna waiting for the same man who was hers.

It was a wild and fantastic story—the sort which attached themselves to old places like this.

I tried the iron-studded door. It would not move. Had I really expected it to?

I began to feel exhausted and fearing for the child retraced my steps back to the Crows’ Tower.

August came—the long-awaited month. A messenger had arrived from Lyon Court with the news that my mother would be setting out in a few days’ time.

One night I awoke startled and found that I was alone. The curtains drawn about the bed made it pitch black. It had been a stifling hot day and I had been quite exhausted by the weather and my condition.

I could hear something so I drew aside the curtain. I realized at once that it was the heavy rain. I got out of bed and went to the window. I could hear the rain pelting down on the stones and a wind was howling. A flash of lightning lit up the sky briefly. I saw the towers against the angry sky; then came the great crack of thunder which sounded as though it was overhead.

I went back to my bed. I could not sleep. I wondered where Colum was on such a night and whether the roads would be sodden when my mother set out from Lyon Court.

I lay still listening for the next clap of thunder, and I suppose because I did now find the days exhausting I was soon asleep.

When I awoke Colum was beside me. He was in a deep sleep. I rose noiselessly and was dressed before he awakened.

He rose yawning and I said to him, “What happened last night?”

Did I fancy it or was he suddenly alert? He said: “It was a fierce night.”

“What thunder!” I said. “I woke and got out of bed. There was one clap which must have been right overhead.”

“I was up,” he said. “There was a ship in distress out there.”

“How terrible … on such a night!”

“I thought there might be something we could do.”

“How good of you, Colum.”

He smiled at me in that tender way which I always so much appreciated because it seemed unnatural to him.

“When you really know me you’ll see I’m not such a bad fellow after all.”

“I am already beginning to ask myself if this is the case.”

It was a strange day that followed. The ship in distress had come to grief on the Devil’s Teeth. All day long the boats were going out to see if there were any survivors. Colum told me there was none.

How delighted I was to greet my mother. I was watching for her from the turret of the Crows’ Tower which gave a good view of the road. I felt a rush of emotion when I saw her sturdily seated on her horse with the grooms and two servants riding with her.

I was waiting at the portcullis to greet her. She swept me up in her arms and then had a good look at me.

“I see you are in good health and spirits,” she said. “Nothing to worry about. And by the look of it it seems as though we shall not have to wait long.”

She busied herself with preparations. She admired the cradle in which Colum himself had once lain. Generations of Casvellyns had used it. I wondered whether Nonna and Ysella had had any children and if so how they had managed to keep them hidden away. I must ask Colum some time. In any case, it was just a legend.

The weather seemed unbearably hot to me in my condition and it was a great joy to sit out of doors. There were not the gardens at Castle Paling that we had at Lyon Court, but we could sit in one of the grassy courtyards. My mother spread a rug for me and I would lie with my back against the wall and we would talk.