‘I daresay it will suffice,’ George said.

‘It must be nice for you.’

‘What?’ George turned to Lou, fork midway to his mouth, a note of surprise in his voice.

She could hold her tongue no longer. ‘I said it must be nice for you. You know, having all that space. All those magnificent rooms in a splendid house.’

George frowned. ‘What the devil are you getting at?’

‘Me? Oh, nothing.’ She twisted her glass this way and that, watching the candlelight refract in the precision cuts in its crystal surface. ‘It’s just that it must make you feel very special to live in such a house.’

‘Now, listen here,’ George said. ‘Who are you to –’

‘Me? I’m nobody.’ She didn’t have to look at George to know that at that moment, he resembled a snorting bull. Twenty-eight years of raging World War Three with Stephen had taught her how to get under a person’s skin and play around beneath the surface until they shook with rage. She could manipulate with the best of them. The only difference between she and George was she used words rather than fists. ‘I was simply saying that it must be nice to have power and influence, that’s all. You can truly say that you lord it over everybody. I wonder, what do you think of the current German expansionist plans? Are you concerned that they will have an effect on your estate and businesses?’

‘What are you talking about?’ George grunted.

‘Come, come, Miss Arnold,’ Sir Charles said from along the table, his tone light as he spoke to Lou. ‘You are toying with George. He does not concern himself with continental politics. And, George, you must understand that Miss Arnold’s wit comes from her penchant for the egalitarian. Isn’t that correct, Miss Arnold?’

‘Egalitarian?’ Lou smiled at Sir Charles. ‘I don’t recall saying as much.’

‘Perhaps,’ Sir Charles said. ‘But if this old nose can’t sniff out a social reformer, then it’s no longer of any use to me. Miss Arnold’s tastes extend not just to suffrage for women but universal suffrage.’

‘A suffragette in our midst,’ Emma trilled. ‘How thrilling. I’ve met Mrs Pankhurst and her daughters on a number of occasions. They are rather stern, but one has to admire their tenacity. Just think, George, if they have their way and the current order of things is revoked, perhaps it is I who shall inherit Caxton Hall and Father’s wealth and not you. Imagine!’

‘Social reform. Suffragettes. Fools, the lot of them.’ Returning to his dinner, George forced an overly large piece of potato into his mouth.

‘Emma, dear,’ Sir Charles said, ‘Miss Arnold is not the only suffragette in our midst. Only last night, my sister and daughter made it clear that they have pinned their colours to that particular mast. I shouldn’t wonder if they’re not card-carrying members of the WSPU, along with Miss Arnold.’

‘Aunt Leo and Cousin Charlotte! Members of the Women’s Social and Political Union?’ Emma exclaimed. She leant forward as if seeing them in a new and exciting light. ‘How absolutely revolutionary of you. I would never have thought it.’