She decided to have a drink of water and then use a bit of it to wash her face. She went behind a tree, out of sight of the house, so she could prepare herself in private. When she was as clean as she could be given the small amount of water she had, she ate a sandwich. She chewed slowly to avoid indigestion, reluctant to admit to herself she was killing time, too scared to actually confront Jago now she was here.

She slid down so she was squatting, wishing the ground wasn’t so wet and she could sit, and rested under the tree for a while. Then her legs began to cramp and she straightened up again. She spent a few minutes shaking out her hair (very damp round her neckline) and retying the scarf holding it back.

She was just wondering what more she could do to use up time to put off the inevitable when she heard a voice.

‘Are you going to stay there all day or are you going to come in? I suggest you come in. It’s going to rain again.’

It was Jago.

Chapter Thirty

‘You managed to find me, then?’ Jago said.

‘Were you hiding?’

‘No. You’d better come in and meet Fred. I’ll make a cup of tea.’

His words were hospitable but his manner wasn’t. But as she didn’t have a choice, Helena walked up the path to the house and followed him to the threshold of the back door. There she stopped and started unlacing her trainers, which were caked with mud.

‘Don’t worry about that—’ Jago began and then saw just how dirty her shoes were. ‘OK, take them off. I’ll find you a pair of clean socks to wear on top of yours.’

‘My socks are soaking,’ she said, peeling one off.

‘Thick socks then.’

Helena removed the rest of her footwear and leaned against the doorjamb, taking in the view. A series of valleys, small woods and fields lay like a bumpy quilt before her, leading down to a thread of silver that was the river. The sun coming out after the rain caused mist to drift across the landscape like skeins of carded wool. She couldn’t help planning a wall hanging inspired by the spectacular scene – or maybe an actual quilt that could go on a bed or sofa.

She was summoned back to the present by Jago’s ‘Here!’ He was holding two pairs of socks, one pair of them extra thick, designed to go inside climbing boots or wellies. It took a few moments to get the thinner pair on over her damp feet but when she had the second pair on she had hope that her feet would one day be warm again.

‘Come in. I’ll get the fire going. It’s not that cold but Fred needs to be kept warm,’ said Jago.