Mavis appeared downstairs the next morning, a large bag on her arm and a sour expression on her face. Stopping at the front door, she threw Esme a piercing glance.
‘I’ll be over at my cousins’ all day. I expect you to be on your best behaviour while I’m gone. No snooping around.’
‘If anyone’s been snooping around, it’s you,’ muttered Esme.
‘What was that?’ Mavis called back from halfway down the path.
Esme beamed at her. ‘I said you’re in for a sunny afternoon.’
Mavis banged the gate shut and stalked off toward the village. Esme retreated to her bedroom and extracted a box from underneath her bed; Mavis had tossed it on a pile of things to throw away, and she had saved it just in time. It was full of letters to her mother from friends on other islands, whom she had met while exhibitin
