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CHAPTER ONE

It had rained during the week, and the river was in spate, crashing between its banks and hurling itself at the stone bridge as if it sought to sweep it away

A torn-off branch fro by the angry broaters Froe, Aed, dran by sohtened on the stones of the parapet until the knuckles turned white

A few seconds, said the small cold voice in her head, and then—oblivion Noat you like a knife, slashing away at all that ar

The rush of the water, the roar of the wind in the trees, seee at the life which had turned against her

She lifted her foot, searching for a hole, feeling the rough surface of the bridge ripping at her fragile tights, scraping her legs Panting, she dragged herself up on to the parapet and crouched for a iddiness which assailed her

She thought, ridiculously, I hate heights

Slowly, gingerly, she uncurled herself, and stood up One step was all that she needed to take, she told herself, swaying slightly Or perhaps the force of the ould do it for her

She felt herself lifted, snatched, and she screa, not forward towards the water, but back on to the bridge again

Frouely familiar, said, ‘It isn’t as simple as that, believe me’

She said a nauished disbelief, but it was lost in the inner tu her at last to the dark forgetfulness she had sought

She opened her eyes dazedly to ine, found that she felt deathly sick, and closed her lids hastily

Later, she became dimly aware of voices in the distance, and of the softness of cushions beneath her The same familiar voice said, ‘Drink this,’ and she drank obediently, too weary to protest Whatever liquid it was, it seemed to run down her throat like fire, but it dissolved away the last of her resistance, and she slept

She woke to laht, and lay for a few puzzledto ter on the sofa in her -room

She thought, drowsily, But I went to Calthorpe to be with Nigel How did I get back here?

Memory hit her like a blow, and she sat up with a little stifled cry, her shocked eyes aze of the man who sat on the opposite side of the fireplace