‘I can’t,’ he said brusquely, a tone not usual for him.

‘Oh, here comes Lord Robert, down the terrace.’ Immediately Siobhan stood up and so did Blackie, and they walked towards the terrace.

‘Welcome, Blackie,’ Lord Robert said. ‘How nice it is to see you again after all these years.’

‘Thank ye, and it is a real treat for me to see ye, too, Lord Robert.’

‘A treat indeed. Hatton told me how you ran into Siobhan today. Quite by accident. A lucky accident, I’d have to say. Apparently you were able to have a bite together.’

‘Yes, Your Lordship. And thank ye for letting me stay the night. Siobhan and me, well, we talked a lot, and I knew the last train to Leeds would get me in very late.’

Lord Robert exclaimed, ‘You’ve always got a bed here, Blackie! Why, we’ve known you since you were a child. And there’re plenty of rooms empty in the male servants’ quarters. Just make yourself at home.’ He hesitated, then added, ‘Could you walk around these gardens with me? You could give me some sound advice, I feel sure of that.’

‘Of course, m’lord.’

Blackie raised his eyebrows at his cousin as he followed Lord Robert down the terrace. Siobhan smiled and excused herself to go back to the kitchen to chat with Cook.

As they strolled around the garden together, Lord Robert pointed out things that genuinely troubled him. He thought the lawn wasn’t trimmed enough, the bushes appeared cumbersome, and he disliked the flowerbeds, which were a mess.

Blackie, as always, listened intently, whilst noting many details that were wrong. When Lord Robert finally paused, Blackie said, ‘Bolton Manor is pure Georgian architecture, early Georgian. And it’s perfect, well-built and quite grand. But, ye see, Your Lordship, a tradition from that period is gone. It’s disappeared.’

‘What do you mean exactly?’

‘The Georgian tradition was to build a house on a hill and then create a lake at the bottom of that hill. A large man-made lake.’

‘Of course! And the house would be reflected in the lake. It was considered to be a vanity, in a way.’

‘These bushes block the view of the house in the lake, m’lord. That’s wrong.’

‘They have to go, don’t they?’

‘I’d say so, m’lord. And the gardeners have to cut the lawns several times a week. It always has to be flat … as a pancake … so, very short blades of grass. And all those flowerbeds …’ Blackie stopped short, grimaced as he waved his hand at them, and finished, ‘They all have to be dug up and replanted elsewhere.’

‘I see,’ Lord Robert murmured. ‘But it will be a dull-looking area, won’t it?’

‘I be thinking the best thing there would be a parterre, Your Lordship. Elegant they are, and they would stretch right across, from that wall to the far edge of the lawn.’