Louisa always reminded Ruffy of a fragile little doll. She had long fair hair that Ruffy teased into ringlets each morning before tying them with ribbons that would match the gown she was wearing that day. Her eyes were a rich, deep brown colour and she was so delicate that there was an almost ethereal quality about her. She had never been short of suitors but Barnaby Greenwood had attended a ball at her parents’ home and had literally swept her off her feet. He had been somewhat older than her and after the empty-headed young men she had been used to she had soon fallen head over heels in love with him.

Their wedding had been a sumptuous affair attended by over three hundred people, and Louisa had floated down the aisle in a froth of silk and lace on her proud father’s arm. The reception following the church service took place in a huge marquee within the grounds of her parents’ stately home and was so grand that it was still talked about in the area to that day. Top chefs had been drafted in from London to do the catering and people had whispered that they had never in their lives seen a spread like it. There had been whole suckling pigs, huge gammons, enormous joints of beef and every type of meat and pie available, as well as a huge selection of cakes and pastries made by a famous pastry chef. Louisa was sure it had been the happiest day of her life, and later that evening as she and Barnaby had boarded a ship bound for the South of France for their honeymoon the feeling had remained.

It was only then that she realised that some aspects of marriage weren’t as pleasant as she had expected them to be and she had spent most of her wedding night curled up in a chair sobbing broken-heartedly as Barnaby tried to comfort her. She had found the physical side of things painful and dirty and nothing like the tender, adoring kisses she was used to, despite the fact that Barnaby had tried to be gentle with her.

‘But darling, this is what married people do. It’s how we make babies,’ he had told her gently after she had fought him like a wildcat. ‘It only hurts the first time. I promise you, you will enjoy it the next time if you’ll only relax.’

But Louisa hadn’t enjoyed it the next time, or the time after that and after that and she had lain as stiff as a plank every time he claimed his marital rights and simply endured it as she prayed for it to end.

The first time she had found she was with child she had been mortified. ‘But Ruffy, I shall get fat and ugly. Lace my stays up a little tighter, please do,’ she had begged.