Rose Cottage (26 page)

Gipsy Lonnen, where it had all begun.

Well, I knew now. As much as I would ever know. As much as I wanted to know.

Take love easy, as the leaves grow on the tree
.

I would try. The quest, in the end, had been for myself, and I had been answered. It isn’t the roots that matter to life, it’s the flower. No more questions, no more looking back. I had found myself, and I knew where I belonged. I was part of this place, and it was part of me. It was home.

I still had the tooth glass in my hand, with a little wine left in it. I raised it towards the dim looming of the treetops at the head of Gipsy Lonnen.

‘Whoever you were, and wherever you are, may God bless you, George,’ I said.

The kitten, no doubt assuming that I meant him, purred.

Mary Stewart, one of the most popular novelists, was born in Sunderland, County Durham and lives in the West Highlands. Her first novel,
Madam, Will You Talk?
was published in 1955 and marked the beginning of a long and acclaimed writing career. All her novels have been bestsellers on both sides of the Atlantic. She was made a Doctor of Literature by Durham University in 2009.