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so that her mother could get through to her, for Joanna had been a silent presence in Meggie’s dreams, unseen but constantly sensed. Meggie knew – although she didn’t know how she knew – that Joanna wanted to be involved; was offering her help, if only Meggie would accept it.
    I do not understand how she can help
, Meggie thought, her distress growing. Joanna was dead; gone from the world these twelve years, disappearing in some sort of vision in Chartres Cathedral, which Josse seemed to know something about but of which he was so very reluctant to speak that Meggie could not bring herself to press him.
    But the fact remained, even if Meggie didn’t understand: she desperately needed to reach her half-brother, via some sort of mental communication that was also beyond her comprehension, and somehow her mother – his mother too – was telling her urgently that she had the means to bring this about. What Meggie had to do was to isolate herself, bring about a trance state – that bit was easy enough – and wait.
    The problem was that she could not do this in the House in the Woods. Apart from the difficulty of finding a time and a space to be alone, she had long schooled herself to close herself off from her mother when she was under her father’s roof. Josse had loved Joanna very deeply; Meggie suspected that he still did. He had worked so hard at learning to live without her, and Meggie knew perfectly well that, one day, he hoped he and Helewise might become more than the good, true friends they had been for so long.
    He doesn’t need the reminder of his earlier love
, Meggie thought.
It wouldn’t be fair
. He was working so hard at learning to live without her, and Meggie would not countenance anything that would interrupt the process.
    Just at that moment, as the thin dawn light at last began to penetrate the gaps in the shutters, Meggie did not know what she was going to do. It was still early; nobody would be awake for ages. She might as well go back to sleep . . .
    Little Helewise opened her eyes and looked across at her sleeping room-mate. Meggie was snoring softly; not enough to have disturbed Little Helewise, and, now she was awake, the sound was rather friendly and companionable.
    For a while she just lay comfortably in her warm bed and stared across at Meggie. It was such a relief to be here; even better to be sharing a room with the person she so much wanted to talk to. She was tempted to reach across and nudge Meggie awake. She didn’t think Meggie would mind, and Little Helewise was bursting to speak to her.
    No. She tucked her hand back beneath the bedclothes. She would let Meggie sleep on. Now that she’d got here, and Josse and his lovely family had made her feel so welcome and let her know without any doubt that she could stay as long as she wanted, there really wasn’t any hurry. It would just be a matter of finding a moment when – Little Helewise yawned hugely – she and Meggie could be quite alone, with no fear of interruption. And that was hardly going to be difficult . . .
    Little Helewise curled up like a kitten by the fire and went back to sleep.
    Before they had all retired to bed the previous evening, Josse had sought out Helewise and repeated quietly to her what Gervase de Gifford had told him. He had said he would set out for Hawkenlye Abbey early the next morning.
    Helewise had been thinking about that for much of the night. Now, rising early and making her preparations, she knew that she must speak to Josse as soon as he was up.
    It was a pity that she must act now, when her beloved granddaughter had only just come to stay, but that couldn’t be helped. Helewise felt she was a driven woman: everything else – even love and obligations to family – came second. Now, using the quiet time before the rest of the household was up and about, she sat down on her narrow bed and reflected over what had led her to her