'We're back at school tomorrow,' she said suddenly.

'It's the end of the holidays.'

'Do you like school?' he asked.

'Not really. It's a bore.'

He didn't know how to answer that. 'I didn't like school either: he said after a while, then he added for something to say, 'Where have you been this morning?'

'Not this morning. Last night. I stayed with a friend. There was a party. I got a lift to the bus stop!

'Sally didn't come with you?'

'No, she wasn't allowed. Her parents are very strict!

'Was it a good party?' he asked, genuinely interested. He'd never gone much to parties.

'Oh,' she said. 'You know..!

He thought she might have had more to say. He even had the sense that she might tell him something secret. They had reached the place where he would have to turn to climb the bank to his house and they stopped walking. He waited for her to continue speaking, but she just stood.

There was no colour on her eyes this morning, though they were still lined with black, which looked smudged and dirty as if it had been there all night. At last he was forced to break the silence.

‘Won't you come in?' he asked. 'Take a dram with me to keep out the cold. Or some tea?'

He didn't for a minute think she would agree. She was a well brought-up child. That was obvious. She would have been taught not to go alone into the house of a stranger. She looked at him, weighing up the idea.

'It's a bit early for a dram,' she said.

'Tea then?' He felt his mouth spread into that daft grin which had always annoyed his mother. 'We'll have some tea and chocolate biscuits!

He started up the path to the house, quite confident, knowing she would follow.

He never locked his door, but he opened it for her and stood aside to let her in first. As he waited for her to stamp her boots on the mat he looked around him. Everything was quiet outside. No one was around to see. No one knew he had this beautiful creature to visit him. She was his treasure, the raven in his cage.