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now in fact she must be dreaming, and this could not really be happening.
    How could she have come home to find a pirate in the house, and a Frenchman at that?
    She supposed she should have been frightened not only because the man was a pirate, but also because he was French.
    Yet in some way she could not explain, he did not frighten her.
    She had the feeling that if she asked him to leave he would do so at once, only making sure before he left that she accepted his apologies for having used the house in her absence.
    “It is an intolerable thing to have done!” she told herself, but she was not angry.
    She went to her own room and found it as she had expected the whole house to be after what Abe had said.
    When she opened the shutters the dust was thick on the floor, on the dressing-table, and on the cover which protected the bed.
    Two little lizards shot behind the curtains when she appeared and there was a smell of mustiness which was over-powering until she opened the window.
    She pulled open the wardrobe and knew she could not change into any of the cotton gowns that hung there because she had grown so much taller in the last three years, and although she was still very slim, her figure was no longer that of a child, but had the first curves of maturity.
    “I must stay as I am,” Grania decided and tried to feel angry because the presence of the pirate was inconvenient to her, but in fact she only felt curious.
    There was nothing she could do in her bedroom and she therefore went downstairs.
    As she reached the hall she heard the sound of voices in the kitchen and felt she should warn Abe that there was a pirate in the house.
    Then as she went towards the kitchen-quarters she heard a man’s voice saying in broken English:
    “We not expect you. I go wake Monsieur .”
    “Good idea,” Abe replied, “a’fore my Lady see him.”
    Grania walked into the kitchen.
    Standing beside Abe was a white man who looked, she thought, extremely French.
    He was small, dark-haired and she thought that if she had seen him anywhere in the world she would have known that he was of French origin.
    He looked startled at her appearance and she thought also a little fearful.
    “I have already talked to your Master,” she said. “He is dressing, and coming downstairs to make his apologies before he leaves.”
    The little Frenchman looked relieved and moved towards the kitchen-table where Grania saw there was a large tin and beside it a tray on which there was a coffeepot.
    She guessed that the Frenchman’s servant had been preparing his breakfast for him and with a faint smile she said:
    “It would only be hospitable to allow your Master to have his coffee before he leaves. Where does he usually drink it?”
    “On the verandah, M’mselle .”
    “Very well. Take it there. And Abe, I too would like a cup of coffee.”
    She knew both men stared at her with surprise, then smiling she walked towards the front door.
    As she might have expected it was not bolted, and she guessed that was the entrance through which the Frenchman came into the house.
    She went out onto the verandah and now in the distance over the palm trees she could just see the tops of two masts.
    The trees were so high that unless she had been looking for them they would be invisible and she knew that Secret Harbour was the perfect place for a pirate ship to hide, and wondered why she had never thought of it before.
    The small bay had been given its name which described it very aptly, by its former owner.
    The entrance to it was at the side and a long tongue of land covered with pine trees faced the sea.
    Once the ship was in the harbour it was almost impossible to see it either from the land side or from the sea.
    Unless one was actually aware of its existence, one could pass and repass a dozen times without being aware there was a ship at anchor in the bay.
    “I would like to see the ship,” Grania thought then chided herself for her curiosity.
    She knew she