‘Then you can just go and tell her that she already has one – me!’ Mrs Ruffin puffed her chest out until she looked almost twice her size. ‘I’ve already asked that my bed be carried into her room just in case she needs anything during the night so a nurse will simply be in the way.’

‘I see.’ Barnaby worried his bottom lip with his teeth as he stared back at the woman. Her devotion to Louisa was clear to see and he secretly agreed with her, although trying to get that across to his mother-in-law would be another thing altogether. At one stage they had insisted that Louisa should go home with them, where they said she would have proper care, but the doctor had pointed out that the journey would be too much for her.

‘Very well, I shall inform them,’ he said quietly and once again Mrs Ruffin noticed the change in him. She was no fool and had known for some long time before the children had been born that the marriage was not all it should be. She knew that her darling was partly responsible for that for denying her husband his marital rights. She had seen the frustration and the anger in him, but since the birth of the children he had been different. Softer and more approachable somehow. There was no doubt whatsoever that he loved his babies but now he was having to face the loss of his wife and possibly his son too, for little Master David wasn’t faring any better.

She watched as he made his way up the stairs, his shoulders slouched, and she felt sorry for him, but then she dismissed him from her mind as she went back to her young mistress who was curled up in bed with her little dog tucked into her side.

*

‘I’m afraid we shall have to go home later this week,’ Barnaby’s father-in-law informed him at dinner later that evening. ‘Work commitments, you know.’

‘Of course, I quite understand.’ In truth, Barnaby was relieved to hear it. His father-in-law had done nothing but interfere in the businesses Barnaby had built up almost from scratch, and because it was Robert’s money that had set him up, there was very little he could do to stop him as he was still the main shareholder. His mother-in-law, meanwhile, had caused chaos in the normally smooth-running household with her interference, much to the annoyance of Mrs Boswell.

‘But that doesn’t mean we will not be back on a regular basis to check that our daughter is receiving proper care,’ Margaret chipped in curtly as she cut a slice of succulent roast beef and placed it on her plate. One thing she couldn’t fault was Cook’s delicious meals nor her cakes and pastries.