‘Please, sir, I don’t know.’ Becky sniffed and swiped at her tears. ‘But I found this on the mantelpiece. It’s fer you.’

He was across the room in three long strides and almost ripped the envelope from her hand as a sense of impending doom settled over him like a big black cloud. He tore the envelope open and as he read what was written on the sheet of paper inside his face paled to the colour of parchment.

‘They’ve gone!’

‘Well, she never said nowt to me about goin’! Where’ve they gone?’ Becky asked falteringly.

‘Oh, er . . .’ Barnaby had to think quickly. He had dreaded something like this happening. ‘It’s nothing to worry about. Amber has had to go away for a while so she’s taken Charlotte with her but they’re both quite safe.’

‘But what about me?’ Becky said plaintively. ‘What am I supposed to do till they get back?’

He knew that Becky’s family relied on her wages so he answered dully, ‘Don’t worry, I’m sure Mrs Boswell can find you plenty to do downstairs. Your job is quite safe, Becky.’

‘Thank yer, sir.’

The relief on her face was evident and without another word Barnaby turned and made for the privacy of his room – he had some serious thinking to do. Once his bedroom door had closed behind him, he leant heavily on a chest of drawers and lowered his head as a lump formed in his throat. What was he to do? If he reported Amber to the police for taking his child and they found her she was bound to tell them why, and what would that do to his wife? She was dying bit by bit, and it wouldn’t be fair to embroil her in such a scandal – it could even speed her demise. He doubted she’d care that he’d strayed, but the humiliation of everyone knowing that he had tried to foist the laundry maid’s daughter on her . . . He shook his head. No, he couldn’t do that to her when she was so ill. And anyway, didn’t he deserve all that he had coming to him? He had hoped that giving the post of nanny to Amber and allowing her to be close to her child would be enough for her, but it clearly hadn’t been. She had never made a secret of the fact that she detested him and he supposed he couldn’t blame her when he thought back to how shamelessly he had treated her.