“I hear the sound of water,” Mrs. Seymour had told the anxious parents. Doubtful all the while, they lost trust in Mrs. Seymour’s powers when Rebecca was found on land. The old fool talked nonsense. But she was not the only fool.

No one, not even Mrs. Seymour, had any idea who the drowned girl was. Sarah and her sisters wondered if she might be a mermaid? Somehow she had been caught up in human affairs, and thereby drowned. Why else had she not been identified and claimed? Everyone belongs somewhere. Mermaids belong in the sea.

It was Jane, the eldest girl, who thought that Mr. Parfitt in his yacht was looking for mermaids. He had the lonely look of a man in search of love. He loved his boat, of course. But he needed more. He liked to talk to customers at his bakery. He was very friendly, scrupulously polite, and truly kind. His smile revealed much, including a shadow of some misfortune. Whenever the girls went to the bakery they speculated on Mr. Parfitt’s success in his search on sailing days. When he was especially cheerful they suspected things had gone well.

He had the lonely look of a man in search of love…. He was very friendly, scrupulously polite and truly kind. His smile revealed much, including a shadow of some misfortune.

Whether a man could marry a mermaid was doubtful. The girls considered who might know the answer. At the lifeboat station they asked Roger, who told them a man who fell in love with a mermaid had to make a choice to live in the sea. It was a hard choice very few men would make, in his experience. But there was always someone.

The girls knew who that someone was. It was their first great secret of this new life.

At low tide the boats, sailing yachts, and fishing smacks rested on the sandbanks between the shallow pools. A long strand with trees acted as a sea wall at the edge of the harbour. You could walk there at low tide. When the sea returned it made an island of the strand, and there sand banks were flooded. Then the boats were able to sail. Mr. Parfitt loosened his boat from its moorings. The water was calm and clear, a delicate blue, lighter than usual. It was a warm day, though the breezes out at sea were much cooler than they were on land.

Mr. Parfitt had such a contented look in his manner that he seemed someone who well might have chosen to live in the sea were he required to do so. Slipping out of harbour, Mr. Parfitt waved to the girls from his well-cared-for craft. They returned his wave, thinking that he might not be seen again.

On a perfect day Mr. Parfitt disappeared.