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Diana wonder if this was a delaying tactic. She certainly hadn’t needed a coat to walk in the garden.
    “Have you a hat?” she asked, not seeing one.
    “Never wear them.”
    “How very odd.” Even Ben, who did not particularly care to cover his head, wore one sometimes, and if Mr. Palmer needed a coat—
    The sudden realization that his lips had quirked into a wry smile as he watched her watch him left Diana feeling disconcerted.
    “I mean you and yours no harm, Mrs. Spaulding.” Palmer stepped outside, but he paused just across the threshold to glance over his shoulder at her. “I don’t suppose you’d heed a word of friendly advice?”
    “Probably not, but feel free to offer it.”
    “Keep Island is a dangerous place. By all means do everything you can to convince Dr. Northcote to leave, but under no circumstances go there yourself.”
     

Chapter Two
     
    “What do you mean, you can’t allow passengers to disembark on Keep Island?” More puzzled than concerned, Diana awaited an answer. She had not journeyed all the way to Bucksport by train to be put off at the first hitch in her plans.
    Amos Cobb, captain of the steamboat Miss Min , scratched his bulbous nose with the side of this thumb and gave her a gap-toothed grin. “Orders is orders, miss. No visitors allowed unless Mr. Somener himself vouches for them. In advance.”
    “But you must have taken my fiancé there four days ago. I—”
    “Nope. Never did. No one out, no one back, not on my boat. Not for a week, at least, and then it was only that peculiar Miss Dunbar who’s digging up the place and her workmen.”
    “Is the island quarantined?” Diana asked.
    “Course not.” Cobb looked astonished by the very idea. “Man just wants his privacy, is all.” 
    Privacy for what? Diana wondered. The vague hints Mr. Palmer had dropped suddenly seemed much more ominous. “Dr. Northcote is on Keep Island. I’m sure of it.”
    “That’s as may be, miss, but I’ve got my orders.”
    “It is extremely important that I contact my fiancé.”
    Cobb tugged on one ear, shuffled his feet, and finally allowed that if she’d write a note to Mr. Somener, he could take it to him. “Will that do?” he asked. “If he says you can visit the island, I’ll take you there tomorrow.”
    Given little choice, Diana did as he suggested. With luck, her message would bring Ben to her instead. She hoped so. The problem with the captain’s offer was that the Miss Min would not be back in Bucksport until evening. According to the schedule posted at the steamship office, he delivered mail, groceries, and sometimes passengers, to ten of the inhabited islands in Penobscot Bay.
    At least he made two stops, morning and afternoon, at Graham Somener’s island. That would give Ben time between to respond to her note, but she’d have to wait all day long in Bucksport just to find out if she had been given leave to visit him on Keep Island. By then the last train for Bangor, which left at 4:50 in the afternoon, would already have departed. She’d have to stay overnight in Bucksport. Alone, if Ben was unable to accompany Captain Cobb to fetch her.
    As she watched the Miss Min leave the wharf, Diana stewed over this setback to her plans. Bucksport’s steamboat dock was right next to the railroad depot. She could go back to Bangor on the 9:40 train and make the trip to Bucksport all over again at two in the afternoon, but she did not particularly want to return to the city. Still, it was not yet nine o’clock in the morning and she could scarcely wander aimlessly along the riverfront for the rest of the day.
    Bucksport was a pretty little town, with its white clapboard houses and brick bank and library rising on a gentle slope. The buildings of what looked like a seminary stood out in stark relief against the sky on the summit of a hill. Thinking to find someplace better to wait, perhaps a respectable hotel, Diana set off on foot to explore. A few minutes walking revealed