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she’d confessed to murder.
    â€˜In heaven’s name, why, my pet?’ asked Mama.
    â€˜I know why,’ said Diana, calmly. ‘She was pretending to be a shoplifter. She’s always pretending to be different things.’
    The twins confirmed it. ‘She likes to act,’ said Effie.
    â€˜Will I take it back now?’ asked Rowena. She was looking forward to the part of playing the penitent thief.
    Papa thought: I don’t know my children. Would I, if they were boys?
    Mama thought: Don’t they say a child does naughty things as a signal that she is not being given enough love? But I love all my children, and of them all Rowena is the one who seems to want or need it least.
    â€˜I suppose I must take it back and explain,’ said Papa.
    â€˜I shall come with you,’ said Mama.
    â€˜I’d better go,’ said Diana.
    The twins nodded. They were sure Diana would handle it better than Papa.
    â€˜Give me money, Papa,’ she said.
    He gave her a five-pound note. ‘What will you say?’
    â€˜I’ll say she’s just seven and forgot to pay.’
    Rebecca, in tears, was comforting Rowena, who was dry-eyed and still smiling.
    â€˜She’ll ask if Rowena took other things as well,’ said Effie.
    That hadn’t occurred to Papa. ‘Did you, my pet?’
    â€˜Of course she didn’t,’ said Diana. ‘She just needed to take one thing for her game. That’s all it was, just a game.’
    â€˜Not a very nice game,’ murmured Mama.
    With the glass cat in her fist Diana marched back to the shop. She didn’t hurry, but it wasn’t because she was afraid. For her family’s sake she would have faced a tiger.
    They huddled under an awning outside a grocer’s. Luckily it was still raining and few people were about.
    Can it be, wondered Papa miserably, that my poor wee daughter is mentally retarded? Have we been so proud of her beauty that we haven’t noticed the dimness of her mind?
    Guiltily he glanced at Rowena. She was looking at him with eyes as bright and intelligent as they were beautiful.
    â€˜I’m sorry, Papa,’ she said. ‘It was silly.’
    â€˜She’s still acting,’ muttered Effie to Jeanie. ‘Sometimes she doesn’t know whether she’s acting or not.’
    They saw Diana come out of the shop, holding her head high.
    The twins ran to meet her. ‘What did she say? Is she going to tell the police?’
    Diana did not speak until they had joined the others. ‘It’s all right. She said anybody could make a mistake.’
    â€˜That was generous of her,’ said Papa. ‘Did she take the money?’
    â€˜Yes. She said it was three pounds forty pence. It shouldn’t have been. I saw the price on one the very same: it was only two pounds eighty pence.’
    â€˜Maybe it was a smaller one that was two pounds eighty pence,’ said Jeanie.
    â€˜The one I took was the smallest,’ said Rowena, still unperturbed.
    â€˜We are living in a dangerous world,’ muttered Papa.
    It was now ten past eleven on the church clock.
    â€˜We are late for our appointment, Papa,’ said Diana.
    â€˜Should we keep it, my dear? Do we want to live anywhere near here?’
    â€˜In Kilcalmonell, in that old house, when it is repaired, we shall be safe.’
    With that defiant prophecy she walked across the road, threw the glass cat into the harbour, and then led the way to the lawyer’s office.
    Effie and Jeanie nodded. What could be safer, as far as collapsing floors and falling slates were concerned, than a house newly rebuilt?
    They frowned too. What other dangers had Diana meant, and Papa too, and Mama as well, judging by her frightened eyes?

Five
    M R P ATTERSON was reading the financial columns of the
Glasgow Herald
when Miss McGibbon, his white-haired clerkess, came to announce that Mr and Mrs Sempill had arrived for their appointment.
    â€˜Nearly