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learning; it was his way of exploring far beyond his physical bounds. “We’ll ask around and find a tutor for you. We mustn’t let your lessons slide.”
    In his serious way, Henry nodded. “I’ll still help with the inn, though. That’s only fair.”
    Em acquiesced with a nod, but exchanged another glance with Issy. They would ensure Henry’s studies had first call on his time. Part of the agreement Em had long ago struck with Harold—an agreement Henry had never been privy to—was that in return for hers and Issy’s services in running his house, Harold would arrange lessons for Henry with the local vicar, who had studied at Oxford and was a keen scholar.
    That was one bargain Harold had kept, knowing it would keep Em and Issy where he’d wanted them—willingly managing his house and seeing to his comforts, otherwise for free. So Henry was now well on the way to being the scholar he’d always wanted to be; he needed to start preparing for his entry to university, even though that was still some years away.
    “Tell us about the treasure again.” Gert bounced up and down in one of the armchairs, sending up a cloud of dust.
    Bea immediately did the same in the other, with the same result.
    “If you sit still,” Em quickly said. As the story of the family treasure was one all her siblings never tired of hearing, the twins dutifully froze, eyes trained on her. Em glanced at Issy.
    Who waved her on. “We’ve plenty of time. I’ve put a pot in the oven—it’s taking care of itself.”
    Issy and Henry perched on the sofa. Making a mental note to dust thoroughly before she retired that night, Em glanced around at her siblings, then commenced, “Long ago, in the days of Sir Walter Raleigh and the Spanish conquistadors, one of the Colytons—he was a buccaneer and the captain of his own ship—captured a Spanish galleon filled with treasure.”
    She continued, describing the captain, his command, the voyage and the battle, concluding with the thrilling victory their ancestor had wrought. “As his share of the spoils, he brought home a chest brimming with gold and jewels. His wife, keeping house here in Colyton, pointed out that the family was already wealthy enough—she knew that if her husband and his brothers, adventurers all, as all Colytons are, kept the treasure, it would be frittered away on more ships and wild ventures. Instead, she suggested that most of the treasure be hidden in a place only Colytons could find, against the need of future generations who found themselves in difficulties. The intention was to keep the Colyton name alive, and the family financially secure, and with that all the Colyton men heartily agreed.”
    Pausing, Em smiled at the four rapt faces before her. “So the treasure was hidden in the village, and the location passed down in a rhyme from mother to child, and especially to the first son’s wife, and so on down the generations.”
    “To us!” Gert beamed.
    Em nodded. “Yes, to us. We’re the last Colytons, and we need the treasure, and that’s why we’re here, back in Colyton village.”
    “‘The treasure of the Colytons resides in Colyton ,’” Henry intoned, repeating the rhyme they all knew by heart.
    “‘In the highest house, the house of the highest, at the lowest level ,’” Issy continued.
    “‘It lies in a box made for the purpose—one only a Colyton would open. ’” Em completed the directions to the twins’ delight.
    “So now we’re here,” Bea stated, “and we’re going to find the treasure.”
    “Indeed.” Em stood. “But first we’re going to have dinner, and then tomorrow we’ll arrange for Henry’s lessons, and you two will start your lessons with Issy while I start to get this inn in order.” Catching a hand of each, she drew the twins up from the chairs and herded them toward the door. “Now we’re here, now we have a place to stay—one we can be comfortable in for months—and we all have things to do, then it’s better