"And you need to get back where you belong!" he roared.

There was a stunned silence. We all froze.

"Well, that will be Truro, then," said Shona lightly, but her face was frigid. "Or did you mean halfway up a gum tree on some Caribbean island?"

Tommy stared, stupefied. “No, I sure as heck didn't mean that – you surely don't think . . ." He glanced around, aghast.

Liz and Kim didn't speak, but I could tell they were thinking, unforgivable. Hugo's face was puce with embarrassment, but he was calmly telling everyone what to do next, and we all listened, relieved to have the distraction, the field away in the distance now

"Right. Tommy, get on Barney right now. Shona—"

"Actually, I'll ride the gray," I said, leaping down and handing Shona my reins. "I've ridden her before and Shona hasn't."

This much was true, although this was a very different beast to the one I'd calmly trotted along the beach with Iris when we'd brought her on a couple of summers ago. This was a nervy, frightened animal, but Shona and I both knew I was the one to get her confidence back, being more experienced, and she'd ridden Farthing loads of times and would be light and considerate. No more argument was brooked and Tommy did indeed look thoroughly ashamed as we were helped back on our respective mounts by a tight-lipped Liz, who'd dismounted. Kim then rode down along the wall, leaned over and expertly opened a gate with her whip, which, when Liz was back on, we all filed through.

We could see the rest of the field in the distance, gathered by Larks Ridge, and we cantered silently to join them. The gray sprang ridiculously beneath me, not taking a great deal of notice of my hands and legs, but it was early days, I told myself nervously: a stop at this cover, a bit of rest and recuperation, and hopefully she'd calm down and get her confidence back. As we joined the group, some people turned enquiringly. We nodded wordlessly back. And actually, there were quite a few muddy backs; a number of people had come undone at that wall, and some possibly had mild concussion, too — it wasn't of any great consequence.

What happened next, though, we were later to learn, hadn't happened in our particular hunt for many years: fifteen, I'm told. I saw Liz ride across to talk to Sean. I couldn't see Sean's face from where I was sitting, Lucas was in the way, but I did see it when he rode across to where Hugo, Lucas and Tommy were standing, Tommy looking much more settled on Barney and, although pale, less green. I watched as Sean spoke to them. I saw Tommy's face go from white to bright red. The boys nodded. Then Hugo turned his bay around and came across to me and Shona, his eyes lowered.

"We're going," he told us. “Master's orders. Tommy has been sent home."

Chapter 6