THE Dark Light
THE STORY SO FAR: After losing her mother, Flora has been taken to live with her uncle, the secretive Saul Crumbley, whose existence she has only just been made aware of. On her way to her new home, Flora thought she saw a ship being guided by a mysterious light, though Saul dismissed this. Now Flora’s maid, Milly, reveals that the nearby island lighthouse has been dark for decades as it interfered with the islanders salvaging goods from wrecked ships. Milly dismisses Flora’s account of the previous night too, but seems strangely troubled by it. That evening, Saul, a magistrate, holds a private meeting and, on the way back to her room after getting lost upstairs, Flora sees the visitors leaving. She is shocked to see that one of them is family friend Barney Beddows. But just as she’s about to greet him, he signals to her to keep quiet.
Those men at the door,’ Flora said as she and Milly reached her bedroom. ‘Do you know who they are?’
Milly had begun busying herself about the room, banking up the fire. She was like a nervous little mouse.
‘Do you know them?’
There was a pause. ‘No, Miss. I might have seen them before, but the Master has so many visitors.’ Milly hung up the brush and shovel, smoothed her hands over her apron and glanced around. She went to the window.
‘Just leave the curtains, Milly,’ Flora said. ‘I like to look out.’ She sighed. ‘I do seem to have arrived in the thick
