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expected?’
    A pained expression crossed Perys’s face. ‘I don’t know. I’ve just come from the army barracks at Bodmin and nothing seems to be very certain.’ Not wishing to tell her exactly what had happened there, he added, ‘All the senior officers are away on some war business or another. Those who are left are so busy coping with mobilisation that they have no time to deal with anything else.’
    ‘Martin upset Ma this morning by saying that if it looks as though the war is going to last for a while he’ll join the army. He believes most of the men at Heligan will do the same.’
    It was an eventuality that had not occurred to Perys. He wondered how Heligan would cope if many of the workforce employed in the house and on the estate left to join the army or the navy.
    ‘Do you have time to come to the farm for a drink?’ Annie asked.
    Although he was pleased that Annie had made the suggestion, Perys shook his head. ‘I would love to, Annie, but I had better get back to Heligan and find out what everyone intends doing. This war will change a great many things.’
    ‘I am sure it will,’ Annie agreed, seriously. ‘Are you likely to stay on at Heligan if you don’t join the army right away?’
    ‘Probably. The truth is that right now I have nowhere else to go. My grandparents have already shut up their house - although they might decide to return to England if it looks as though Italy will come into the war on the side of the Germans.’
    Annie felt deep sympathy for Perys. Although he was a member of the family that owned most of the countryside in this part of Cornwall, he had no roots, no permanent home, and, seemingly, no one who really cared what happened to him.
    ‘If you do stay at Heligan for a while you are always welcome to call on us at Tregassick.’
    ‘Thank you, Annie, I appreciate the offer. I shall certainly pay you a visit if I stay - and will let you know if I am to leave.’
    ‘I hope that won’t be for a while . . .’ Aware that she was being what her mother would refer to as ‘far too forward’, Annie turned to go.
    Suddenly, she stopped and turned back to him. ‘Perys . . . will you speak to Martin and try to persuade him to stay on at Heligan, for a while, at least, and not to rush into joining the army?’
    ‘I’ll try, Annie, but I can’t guarantee how successful I’m likely to be. You see, I understand exactly how he feels.’
    * * *
    When Perys repeated to Maude what he had been told by the captain at the army barracks in Bodmin, she listened in thoughtful silence.
    ‘. . . It baffles me, Aunt Maude. Great-Uncle Hugh recommended me - and you personally delivered the letter and my application to the commanding officer’s office, together with my references. Even my headmaster felt I was well suited for an army career.’
    ‘I don’t think it has anything at all to do with your qualifications for a service career, Perys. I believe it is your cousin Edward’s way of taking revenge for the bloody nose you gave him. It is perfectly true that my husband served with Major Stokes in the Boer War, but so too did Edward’s father. The two remain firm friends.’
    ‘I had hoped that once Edward calmed down he might have accepted that he went too far,’ Perys said, ruefully. ‘It seems I was wrong.’
    ‘None of this is your fault,’ Arabella protested. ‘There was nothing else you could have done after he said what he did. He is lucky you didn’t do far more to him. I know I will never speak to him again for as long as I live.’
    ‘The problem is that it leaves me with a very uncertain future,’ Perys said to Maude. ‘I have an allowance from my grandfather, but it’s by no means generous and is conditional upon my joining the army as soon as possible after completing my education. Perhaps I should do what the captain at Bodmin suggested. Enlist as a recruit and hope to gain a commission.’
    ‘That is not a good idea at all.’ Maude said, firmly. ‘As the