‘With the generous allowance, the Earl settled on the happy couple, Old Tom was able to commission the finest architect in England to design his fashionable Palladian idyll. As well as the house, he had a wall constructed to bring all of his property within its boundary, including the sixteenth century church where he remained as vicar. But Old Tom knew not to build his house as grand as Caxton Hall and risk offending his father-in-law – his bankroll. You’ll see that the portico outside is barely deep enough for a handful of people to stand beneath, when by rights, it should be large enough to drive a horse and carriage up to the door. And for Hill House to qualify as a truly great property, there should be half a dozen or so more rooms downstairs and a gatehouse at the end of the drive.

‘Nevertheless, by the time he died, Old Tom had made Hill House into one of the finest houses in the county with acres of farms rented out to tenant farmers. By virtue of his marriage, he also had a baronetcy bestowed on him by the king, and along with some judicious investments in the colonies, Old Tom died a very wealthy and respected man.’ Captain Mandeville stopped to draw breath.

‘You’ve told this story before,’ Lou said.

‘Once or twice. When I was a small boy, my father had me give tours to all his visitors, because I was so enthusiastic about the story of my namesake.’ With his thumb and forefinger, Captain Mandeville began to stroke his imaginary moustache. ‘But do you know the funny thing? The older I grew, the less I saw Old Tom as a character from an adventure story and more as a rather tragic figure. You see, this house and all the fine furniture and fittings, they were inspired by the Grand Tour. Even the coat of arms he had designed.’

Captain Mandeville nodded to the crest carved on to the chimneybreast. ‘The two lions holding aloft a globe are supposed to symbolise that he was a man of the world. When the truth is, Old Tom never set foot outside England. Not once. Everything he knew of the Grand Tour, he learned from books or from the knowledge of others. I can’t imagine anything worse. I’ve never felt more alive than waking beneath canvas, pushing back a tent flap to see the sun rise over the desert and feel the fresh air of a new day warm my face.’ He paused and scratched his chin. ‘Sorry, that isn’t a standard part of the tour. Not sure what came over me there … Come on, then, fellow explorer. Onwards and upwards’

Captain Mandeville led Lou around the hall, pausing to point out each ancestor in the paintings. He knew them all by name – the men, women, children, even the animals – and was able to offer nuggets of information and the occasional titbit of scandal about each. He took her upstairs and stopped at a portrait on the landing of a young man in breeches, a ruffled shirt, a black full-skirted coat and a grey powdered wig, with a huge Irish hunting hound by his side.