‘Rubbish!’ Victor scoffed. ‘Why, you’re still a young man in your prime – and good-looking. The women will be queuing up for you once they know you’re available again.’

‘I doubt that very much.’ Oscar was highly amused. ‘And even if they did, I wouldn’t be interested.’

Victor stared at him reflectively. ‘That’s what you say now but time is a great healer.’

Keen to change the subject, Oscar quickly moved on to talk of other things. He stayed for only the one drink and once at home again, Miss Wood hurried into the hall to greet him and take his hat and coat.

‘Cook has kept your dinner warm for you,’ she told him with a smile. ‘Shall I serve it in the dining room?’

‘Not at all, I’ll come into the kitchen and have it in there.’ It was funny, he thought as he followed her along the hallway, he would never have dared do that while Lydia was there. She had always frowned on him becoming too friendly with the servants but he was finding that he enjoyed their company more than he had hers. And it was so nice to come home to Serena’s smiling face rather than a grilling from Lydia about where he had been.

‘Has Father eaten?’ he asked when they stepped through the green baize door.

Miss Wood nodded as she hurried to fetch his meal from the oven. She had given Cook and the rest of the staff the night off and now they found themselves alone, so he told her what Victor had told him at the club.

‘I see, and how do you feel about that?’ she asked softly as he lifted his knife and fork.

He shrugged. ‘Surprised, I have to admit. I never dreamed she would find someone else so quickly, and shocked, I suppose, that it didn’t hurt me to hear it. But I wish her well. Perhaps with this elderly lord she will find the happiness she never found with me.’

Serena’s heart ached for him. She had loved him for so long but even now she was painfully aware that nothing could ever come of it. He was the master of the house while she was just the housekeeper. With a sigh she bustled away to put the kettle on and left him to eat his meal in peace.

He recounted what he had heard at the gentleman’s club once again that evening when he visited his father in his room before retiring to bed.

‘And how do you feel about it?’ the old man asked, much as Serena had done, as he eyed him keenly.

‘Funnily enough, very little,’ Oscar admitted sadly. ‘So I suppose it just goes to show that our marriage was over long before we parted.’ They talked of the business then for a time and eventually Oscar retired to bed alone, much as he had done for many years.

*