‘I’m afraid I do.’ The doctor clasped his hands behind his back and walked to the window. He always found this part of the job, where he had to impart bad news to the family of his patients, very difficult.

‘I’m sorry to tell you this,’ he said eventually. ‘But I fear your wife has a tumour growing in her stomach.’

Barnaby was shocked; he hadn’t expected this. ‘I see. And what can be done for her?’

The doctor shook his head. ‘I’m afraid there is nothing that can be done with a tumour that size,’ he said regretfully. ‘I believe it could already have been forming before she became with child and now I gauge it to be the size of a small football. Should I attempt to remove it I doubt she would even wake up from the operation.’

‘So what you’re saying is . . .’ Barnaby couldn’t even bring himself to say the words.

‘I’m afraid so. I’m so sorry, my man.’

‘And . . . and how long has she got?’

The doctor shrugged. ‘That I cannot tell you. It could be a few years or it could be a few months. It all depends on how quickly it grows. I’ve prescribed something to ease the pain but I’m afraid apart from keeping her as comfortable as possible there’s nothing more I can do. You can seek a second opinion, of course, if you’re not happy with what I’ve told you.’

‘No.’ Barnaby shook his head and flopped down onto the nearest chair like a rag doll as he tried to take in what he’d been told. ‘I trust you, Doctor, and I’m grateful to you for coming all this way to see her.’

Margaret appeared, sobbing, and Barnaby vaguely realised he should be comforting her – she was Louisa’s mother after all – but somehow, he couldn’t seem to make his legs work.

Suddenly Margaret turned on him, her face livid. ‘This is all your fault.’ She pointed a wavering finger at him. ‘All you ever cared about was having a son and heir, even though you knew my darling was of a delicate constitution.’

Greatly embarrassed by her outburst the doctor tried to calm her. ‘As I pointed out, Margaret, the tumour could well have started to form before the pregnancy,’ he said, hoping to calm the situation, but now she turned on him.

‘And you can be quite certain of that, can you?’

The doctor stepped back from the fury in her eyes, before slowly shaking his head. ‘Well no . . . I can’t say for sure but—’