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her embarrassment.
    Ben stood up, too. As he stood on a rock below her his face was on a level with hers. He leaned forward and kissed her lightly, full on the lips. ‘That’s to say thank you for a pleasant afternoon,’ he said softly.
    It was nothing more than a friendly kiss, but Rachel felt uneasy, particularly as, looking over his shoulder, she saw, just passing the island, a fishing boat, the Celia , with a tall dark man at the wheel. Wasn’t Celia the name of Richard’s boat? And wasn’t the man at the wheel Richard himself?
    Somehow, for Rachel, all the brightness had gone out of the day.
     
    A few days later Alistair surprised Rachel by saying at the breakfast table, ‘I shall be going into Dunglevin this afternoon to visit Rose. If you’d care to come with me you’re very welcome. No doubt Ben will be happy to look after Melanie for a few hours.’
    ‘Thank you, I’d like to come,’ Rachel replied. Alistair got up from the table and left, absent-mindedly patting Melanie’s head as he passed her chair. Rachel was puzzled. He hadn’t even spoken to his granddaughter, yet Richard insisted that he was opposed to her being sent away to school. But if he always took as little notice of her as that what possible difference could it make to him whether she was in the house or not?
    As always Rachel and Melanie spent the morning at the playroom table. The child was intelligent, Rachel had no doubt on that score. But it was just as if the child had put a shutter up between herself and the rest of the world and so far Rachel could find no chink in it.
    Richard and Alistair were both at lunch, prepared by a woman from the clachan, Mrs Munroe, who, it seemed, would be acting as cook in Rose's absence.
    ‘How can I deputise for you? I know nothing whatever about the soil on Isaac’s Farm,’ Richard was saying as Rachel entered the dining room with Melanie. ‘Why can’t Ben do it?’
    ‘Because it’s not Ben’s job.’ Alistair helped himself to vegetables. ‘I’d forgotten the soil analysis man was coming this afternoon when I arranged to take Rachel to see Rose in hospital. Quite forgotten. But if you’d deputise for me ....’
    ‘I have my own business to run. I’m taking a fishing party round Lamont Point this afternoon. In any case, I know absolutely nothing about soil analysis.’ Richard shook open his napkin and picked up his knife and fork, putting an end to the discussion. ‘But why can’t Rachel go alone?’ he asked as an afterthought. ‘She drives the Mini. And the road to Dunglevin is clearly marked. She's not likely to miss her way.’
    ‘Would you do that, lassie?’ Alistair asked anxiously. ‘I’d not want to disappoint Rose, but we've been waiting for this analysis laddie for months, I’d not want to miss him, either.’
    ‘Yes, of course,' Rachel smiled at Alistair. At that moment she felt a surge of pity for him at Richard’s complete indifference and lack of co-operation. It must be a sad disappointment to the older man.
    As for Richard, he ate his lunch, and with barely an apology excused himself and left, saying he had to prepare the boat for the afternoon trip.
    After lunch Rachel took Melanie to find Ben, who was stacking logs in a far corner of the barn.
    ‘She’ll be happy enough here with me,’ Ben smiled. ‘I’ll see she comes to no harm.’
    Rachel found the drive to Dunglevin interesting. She drove through Ardenbeg and over the high road by the loch, then the road wound sometimes between the mountains, sometimes over them. The scenery was breathtaking in its grandeur, but nowhere could it match the view Ben had shown her from the vantage point on the scenic road above the loch and she resolved to stop there again on the way home. The hospital, directions for which Alistair had given her most explicitly, was on the far side of Dunglevin and she had no difficulty whatsoever in finding it.
    Rose was lying flat on her back. She insisted that as long as she