Mrs Pembroke dabbed ineffectively at the tears on her plump cheeks with a scrap of a lace handkerchief. ‘Really! Why it’s almost as if he can hardly wait to get rid of me,’ she said angrily. ‘But I’ve had a change of heart. This is my home and I’ve decided I shan’t leave it. At least I shan’t if he decides he won’t send Miranda away. I can hardly believe that Oscar would take the part of a mere servant rather than his own daughter.’

Miss Wood clamped her lips shut. There was so much she would like to say but it wasn’t her place. Lydia was her mistress after all.

‘How is the girl anyway?’ Lydia asked then.

‘Not good, I’m afraid.’ At least Serena could be honest about that. ‘She has lost the baby and that coupled with her injuries and her broken leg have made her very poorly indeed.’

Lydia tossed her head and sneered. ‘Huh, I’m sure she’ll recover in time. And as for the baby . . . well, she’ll probably be expecting another one in no time. These street girls tend to breed like rabbits!’

‘I really don’t think Ruby could be described as a street girl, Mrs Pembroke.’ Serena had lost all patience and could not keep the scorn from her voice. ‘From what I can gather she has led a very sheltered life and it transpires that the baby was the result of rape. Now, if you don’t need my help I must be about my business.’ And she swept from the room leaving Lydia to stare after her with her mouth agape.

*

Over the next few days, Ruby slowly began to improve but the doctor informed them that it would still be some weeks before she was properly well again. And then the letter Mr Pembroke had been expecting arrived and he summoned both his daughter and his wife to his study.

‘I have received a reply from Madame Babineaux in France,’ he told them shortly. ‘She says there is a place available for Miranda in her school as soon as we like and so I shall arrange for us to leave the day after tomorrow. Make sure you have packed what you wish to take with you, Miranda. I shall, of course, accompany you.’

Lydia’s face crumpled. She had really believed that he would change his mind and had gone out of her way to be nice to him over the last few days, not that he seemed to have noticed. If anything, she felt he had been avoiding her.