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nothing more of a son,” Hal told himself.
    William had proved himself as an athlete and as a scholar.
    His tutor at Cambridge had praised his industry and capacity for learning, and he had wrestled, ridden and hawked his way to prominence.
    After his studies, when he had returned to High Weald, he had proved his worth yet again as an administrator and entrepreneur.
    Gradually Hal had given him more and more control over the running of the estate and the tin mines, until now he himself had almost withdrawn from overseeing the day-to-day running of the family estates. If there was anything that made Hal at all uneasy, it was that William was often too hard a bargainer, too ruthless in his treatment of the men who worked for him. More than once men had died at the tin face who might have been spared if a little more thought had been given to their safety, and a little more money spent on improvements to the shafts and the haulage. Yet the profits from the mines and the estate had almost doubled in the last three years. That was proof enough of his competence.
    Now William was contracting this glittering marriage.
    Of course, Hal had pointed him in the direction of Lady Alice Grenville, but William had courted her and, in very short order, had had her so besotted with him that she had convinced her father of the suitability of the union, despite his initial reluctance. After all, William Courtney was a commoner.
    Hal glanced at the Earl as he sat in the front pew across the aisle. John Grenville was older than him by ten years, a lean, man, plainly dressed as ill befitted one of the greatest landowners in England. His dark eyes were hooded in the unhealthy pallor of his face. He caught Hal’s eye and nodded, his expression neither friendly nor hostile, although harsh words had been exchanged when it had come to the matter of Alice’s dowry. In the end she brought with her the title to Gainesbury farms, over a thousand acres, in addition to the working tin mines of East and South Rushwold. The demand for tin seemed insatiable, these days, and Rushwold adjoined the Courtney mines that William was administering so efficiently.
    Run together, output would grow and lower the costs of hauling the precious ore to the surface. That was not all of Alice’s dowry. The final item which he had wheedled out of the Earl pleased Hal as much as the rest: the packet of English East India Company shares, twelve thousand of the common stock with full voting rights. Hal was already a major shareholder in and governor of the Company, but these new shares would increase his voting power and make him one of the most influential men on the board after the chairman, Nicholas Childs.
    Yes, he had every reason to feel smug. Then what was this strange feeling that niggled, like grit in the eye, at his contentment?
    Sometimes, when he rode along the cliffs and gazed out over the cold grey sea, he remembered the warm azure waters of die Ocean of the Indies. Often now when he flew a hawk and watched its rapid wing-beats against the sky, he remembered the taller, bluer sky of Africa. On some evenings he took down his charts from his library shelves and pored over them for hours, reading the notations he had made upon them two decades before, and earning of Africa’s blue hills, its white beaches and mighty rivers.
    Once, very recently, he had woken from a dream in sweat and confusion. It had all been so vivid, the reliving of those tragic events. She had been with him again, the lovely golden girl who had been his first true love. Once again she had been in his arms, dying.
    “Sukeena, my love, I will die with you.” He had felt his heart break again as he said those words.
    “No.” Her sweet voice began to fade.
    “No, you will go on. I have travelled with you as far as I am permitted. But for you the fates have reserved a special destiny. You will live on. You will have many strong sons whose descendants will flourish in this land of Africa, and