HIGH TIDE AT MIDNIGHT Read Online Free PDF Page B

that. He was afraid it might attract tourists near his
    precious estate. He values his privacy very highly, does Mr Trevennon.'
    Thanks for the warning, Morwenna thought bleakly. She glanced at her
    watch. The bus would be arriving any minute now. It still wasn't too late to
    change her mind. Could this really be the man her mother had spoken of
    with such nostalgic affection, or had the passage of time simply changed
    him out of all recognition?
    'I'm Biddy Bradshaw, by the way,' the girl went on. 'I've been doing the
    rounds of some of the gift shops, trying to get some firm orders for the
    Easter trade.' She gave a tight little smile. 'If we had our own shop, it would
    make things much easier. The shops are fairly co-operative round here, but
    they want commission on what they sell for us, naturally, and there isn't that
    much profit just at the moment to share around.'
    Morwenna nodded, conscious of a slight feeling of awkwardness as she
    introduced herself.
    Biddy's eyes were alight with interest. 'Morwenna? But that's a Cornish
    name. I didn't realise you were from this part of the world.'
    'I'm not. But my mother spent most of her childhood here, and I suppose it
    seemed a natural choice for her.'
    Biddy shrugged slightly. 'I suppose so—if you have a taste for tragic
    legends. Oh, here's the bus at last.'
    She clambered up the steps of the single-decker while Morwenna followed.
    'You want the stop after mine,' she directed as Morwenna paid for her ticket.
    'Turn left at the Cross and follow the road until it brings you out at the house.
    You can't miss it,' she added. 'It doesn't lead anywhere else.'
    Morwenna would have liked to have questioned Biddyfurther about
    Trevennon, but the bus was fairly crowded and she was aware of all the
    potential listening ears, so she confined her questions to general ones about
    the area itself. Biddy was cheerful company, and Morwenna felt oddly
    desolate when she announced eventually that they were coming to her stop.
    'You want the next one, don't forget,' she said as she got to her feet. 'Good
    luck.' She paused. 'If you—do decide to stay for a while, look us up at the
    pottery.'
    'I'd like that,' Morwenna smiled up at her. As the bus lurched away again she
    took a deep breath to steady herself and began to retrieve her belongings. In
    less than five minutes she found herself standing in the darkness, the wind
    whipping at her hair and tangling across her face. She shivered, huddling her
    sheepskin jacket round her for warmth and wishing that she was just about
    anywhere but the chill of this unknown country road.
    She began to walk towards the faint glimmer of the signpost at the
    crossroads, glad of the shelter of the hedge. It was raining still and the drops
    stung her face. When she licked her lips she could taste salt on them, and in
    the distance above the howl of the wind, she could hear the *sea roaring.
    'Good night for wrecks,' she murmured aloud, and grimaced at the thought.
    At the crossroads she turned left as Biddy had indicated and found herself in
    a narrow lane, bordered on either side by high hedges. It was really dark
    now, the faint moonlight almost totally obliterated by the mass of rushing
    clouds chased by the gale.
    She had walked perhaps two hundred yards, practically feeling her way
    along the hedge, when she stopped and ^aid flatly and aloud, 'This is silly.'
    She set down her case and the rucksack and began to unfasten the buckles.
    Among the oddments she had thrown in at the last moment, she thought, was
    a torch, although she wasn't sure if it worked or if there were even any
    batteries in it. Naturally the missing article had slipped right to the bottom of
    the rucksack and she was obliged to repack it almost completely before she
    could fasten it again. Grimly she stood up at last and tentatively switched on
    the torch. The faintness of the glimmer of light that fell on the road in front
    of her indicated there was not much life left in the