‘Eeh, yer should ’ear the poor mistress howlin’,’ Becky told Amber the next morning after taking the breakfast tray down to the kitchen. ‘The staff are creepin’ about the house like ghosts an’ yer can ’ear her in every room apart from up ’ere. They’re whisperin’ downstairs that they reckon she’s on ’er last legs.’

‘How awful.’ Amber felt sorry for her, she was still only a very young woman after all.

‘The doctor’s just arrived,’ Becky went on. ‘They’re sayin’ the master left word fer someone to fetch him first thing. He went off in the middle o’ the night to fetch her parents, apparently. Rather ’im than me, venturin’ across the moors in the dark.’

Amber shrugged. She didn’t much care what happened to the master if truth be told, but she did feel sorry for the mistress.

*

It was early evening when the master arrived home looking weary, and after leaping lithely down from the saddle, he threw Star’s reins to the groom in the yard and told him, ‘Be sure to give him a good rub down, he’s worn out.’

The groom didn’t need to be told that. The horse’s head was drooping and steam was rising from his flanks in the bitterly cold air as he led him away, muttering soothing words.

Barnaby meanwhile strode into the house and without stopping to remove his muddy riding boots, much to the maid’s disgust, he took the stairs two at a time.

‘How has she been?’ he asked Mrs Ruffin the instant he entered Louisa’s room.

Before she could answer, his wife barked, ‘You can address your questions to me, you know! I’m not quite dead yet, although it’s no thanks to you! And where are my parents?’

‘They’re following on in their carriage,’ he answered. Then his expression softened as he asked, ‘Would you like me to have the babies brought down for you? It might cheer you up.’

‘That’s about the last thing I need,’ she retorted as she waved her hand dismissively and with a sigh he turned and left to ask the maids to prepare a room for his in-laws.

It was very late that evening by the time they arrived and they were both tired and irritable after the long journey. Some of the staff had already retired to their beds but Nancy had volunteered to wait up to greet them and get them anything they might need.

‘Tea, as quick as you please, girl,’ Margaret Hamilton-Tate told Nancy rudely as she flung her hat and cape towards her in the hall. ‘And something to eat to tide us over until breakfast wouldn’t go amiss either!’