-- Ah , Mrs Day, said Helen as they re- entered the kitchen , where there were a great many photographs in bundles , laid out face down upon the table .

-- Do sit down here , where you can reach these.

Mrs Day was itching to reach out an turn some of them over , but she stayed her hand as Helen spoke.

-- As you can see , a lot of these photographs have either a name or some initials pencilled on the back , not all of them entirely legible. What I've done is bundle together all those that either have the names clearly written on them , or that can be seen to be of the same person , or ones I think are of the same person, though I may be wrong in a lot of cases .

Mrs Day nodded her understanding .

-- There are also quite a few group photos , where some of the individuals are not known or named . And there are quite a few where even single subjects are not named . And next to some of the bundles you can see that I have a few smaller bundles with a rubber band round them . If you please , would you leave the ones with the rubber bands around them till the very last ? There are special reasons as you'll see .

Mrs Day looked over the bundles and saw that there were indeed a few piles with banded photos beside them .

-- Now , Mrs Day , I don't want you to think that I'm laying down impossible rules . Please understand I'm trying to go about this in as logical a way as I can . I would think that you'd be more interested in photos of people than in photos of scenery and places ?

-- Oh yes, said Mrs Day

-- Well there are quite a lot of those landscape ones , and after you've seen the photos of the personalities , I'd be very grateful if you'd identify some of those for me if you would . It might take a lot of time , so we can leave that till much later.

Mrs Day , anxious to get to the business of seeing the photos that were important to her, willingly agreed to that request .

-- Well then , here's a soft lead pencil . If you will , please write the names of those that you know on the back of the photo . Then I will be able to ensure that I can get them to the subjects themselves . There are many with multiple copies , by the way . I haven't bothered to put out all the ones that we could see were exact duplicates .

Mrs Day took up the pencil , and Peter slid the furthest bundle across the table to her . She turned it over and looked carefully, then shook her head .

-- No . I don't recognise her . Maybe she was one of the girls he used to have visit him from London I think it was. Sometimes as many as three or four at a time .

Peter turned to look out of the window , as the thought crossed his mind that the young Lord had indeed lived it up .

The next couple of bundles received much the same judgment from Mrs Day , so Peter , almost like a croupier , swept up those bundles as well as the rubber banded bundles that accompanied them , and replaced them in the box.

After carefully writing some names on several innocuous photos , Mrs Day turned up a large bundle .

-- Now that's Jessie , cried Mrs Day . She was older than me and my friends , but I'd know her anywhere . She left the village in 1960 , the year the Lady disappeared. Went up North to marry someone from - -- oh , I forget the place.

-- Older than the Lord too ?

-- Oh yes . And so was this one . She's Lizzie , Jessie's friend . She left the village about the same time .

-- Interesting , said Helen.

-- It looks as if he did have some order in the arrangements in the boxes , then.

-- Oh my goodness , she cried as she turned over the second last bundle.

-- That's Doris .

-- We thought so , said Helen . Then she pushed the last bundle to Mrs Day.

-- And I think these must be photos of you .

Mrs Day blanched .

-- And are those in the bundles what I think they are ?

-- I'm afraid so . If these had been seen by anyone in authority during his lifetime , he would probably have been in serious trouble . You girls were all very young .

-- But I don't understand . I assure you I never ......

-- I am sure that you didn't , said Helen soothingly.

-- At least the photographs of you look like candid shots taken entirely without your knowledge . Just think back . There's a little stream up there past the small woods. Nobody would think twice about it nowadays , but did you and your friends , er -- how can I put it ? we called it skinny dipping where I come from .

-- Oh dear oh dear , said Mrs Day , with a catch in her throat.

-- He couldn't have -- he wouldn't have , surely .....

-- I'm afraid he did . Those woods offer perfect cover for a man with a telescopic lens .

-- Oh my god , how he must have laughed behind our backs ! He used to call us his dryads , but I never knew what he meant by that.

-- He had the advantage of a classical education , said Peter , sotto voce .

-- Whatever is going to happen with these ? asked Mrs Day anxiously.

-- Nothing . Not a thing , said Helen.

-- They are of no use to me. You may have yours to take with you when you go . But we still have the problem of Doris , and the other ladies there in the special bundles . Do you have any suggestions ?

-- I think that it would be best to let Peter return the photos to Doris , said Mrs Day .

-- He could just drop it in to the Post Office as a parcel for her and leave before she opens it .

Helen looked at Peter , who shrugged a reluctant kind of assent.

-- After all , I'm the dogsbody , and it will save Helen a confrontation , he thought .

-- I think that I'd better go back now . The shop , you know . And thank you for your consideration of my feelings .

Helen smiled and rose .

-- You're very welcome . I'm glad that everything about me and the manor is clear now . Well , everything but that damned skeleton . I suppose that I 'll have half the county tramping around here now . But , c'est la vie .

And she led Mrs Day to the door while Peter repacked the photos in their boxes.