‘My, my, but how you have grown!’ he said, ruffling the boy’s hair. ‘You remember me, don’t you?’

Albert studied Captain Mandeville’s face briefly before selecting the figure of a man from his box and placing him in the morning room of the dolls’ house. ‘You are Captain Thomas Mandeville, and you are an officer in the cavalry. You ride a horse every day, and that makes you very, very lucky.’

‘I suppose it does.’ Captain Mandeville looked up and smiled at the women. ‘What a clever little chap you are, Bertie. I may still call you Bertie, mayn’t I? Even if you have grown into a strapping young man.’

The boy nodded. He peered into Captain Mandeville’s face and ran his finger along his own top lip.

‘And observant to boot!’ Captain Mandeville said. ‘We’ll make a scout for the battalion out of you yet. I have indeed shaved off my moustache as I found it fiendishly tickly. Tell me, Bertie, are you still ticklish?’

Albert shook his head.

‘No?’ Captain Mandeville said, feigning surprise. ‘Then you won’t mind at all if I do this.’ He gently tickled Albert’s arm, making him giggle and shrug his shoulder to his ear. ‘Bertie, do you remember the game we used to play when you were still a terribly small chap?’

‘Of course. You were my horse and I was the General.’

‘Precisely!’

Without warning, Captain Mandeville scooped the little boy up, balanced him on his shoulders and to squeals of delight, charged out into the hall. ‘Hold on tight, Bertie,’ he shouted, and Albert gripped the Captain’s chin, holding on for dear life.

‘Stop, Thomas, do,’ Lady Mandeville called out. ‘You will make the child ill.’

Captain Mandeville reappeared in the doorway. ‘Nonsense. The General has a cast iron constitution. Isn’t that right, General?’

‘Yes!’ Albert shouted. Tom whinnied and charged into the hall again.

‘How he loves children, and how they adore him in return,’ Mrs Hart laughed. ‘Thomas was born to be a father. Perhaps the events of the coming week may see that destiny realised all the sooner.’

‘I do hope so, sister, really I do,’ Lady Mandeville said. ‘But speak more quietly. Thomas must believe that an engagement is his idea. If he thinks, even for a second, that this has been engineered in some way, he will not entertain the notion. You know how stubborn he has always been, even as a small boy.’

‘True,’ Mrs Hart nodded. ‘My nephew certainly does know his own mind. But he has always been so very fond of Emma.’

Charlotte pouted. ‘We are all fond of Emma. It’s just a shame that she comes with the rest of her family.’

‘Charlotte, do not talk so!’ Lady Mandeville snapped before lowering her voice. ‘I want nothing, including your low opinion of your cousin George, to come between Thomas and Emma. Do you understand?’

‘Yes, Mama. Sorry, Mama,’ Charlotte said.

Captain Mandeville cantered past the doorway again, Albert bouncing on his shoulders, shrieking with delight. Lou’s heart sank. She was the only person here who knew that Thomas Mandeville would never have children. Because by this time next year, he would be four months dead, buried in a grave on a battlefield in France.