Thus it was with some unwillingness that it was agreed to allow the Norris family the empty cottage, together with a small stipend to cover their expenses for a year. The boy was to be offered a sum to enable him to train in an apprenticeship and subsequently to purchase a position for himself. The trying question of how the Gales should continue in their relation to the Norrises remained unresolved. Surely they could not call on one another as equals, and yet the Gales did not wish to appear cold or lofty.

It irked William, then, to learn that Emily Norris had been to visit his wife within two days of taking up residence on the estate. She had come to see the baby, his wife explained.

‘It is not my father’s wish that our house should fraternize with theirs,’ said William.

‘I could hardly turn her away at the door!’ Alice protested.

‘I suppose not. But I must ask you, please, not to form a friendship with the girl. Now that they are tenants here we cannot have her forever taking tea in our drawing room.’

‘William! You vex me now. I would ask you to consider that had your brother survived, Emily Norris would have had equal standing to my own. It seems unduly churlish to make a scapegoat of her now, when surely your brother would have wished us to be kind to her. Her father’s circumstances are no fault of hers, after all.’

‘I do not wish to argue every finer point with you, as if we were adversaries in a courtroom. To be frank, your disputatious nature is wearisome to me. Kindly do as I ask and we will say no more about it.’

And with this he went from the room.

Alice was not given to tears, but at this she felt her eyes fill. William had never used to speak to her in this autocratic manner. One of the joys of their courtship, indeed, had been his interest in her opinions and their shared pleasure in conversation. There were many nights when they had stayed up after dining, talking through affairs of the day, or the finer point of a scripture or sermon. Sometimes in their fervour they had allowed the fire to go out, each too caught up with discussion to remember to add a log to the grate. On those evenings when Caroline joined them at The Grange their discourse had been especially lively. Alice had thought herself fortunate to have met such a man. And yet, since his return from the Russian war, he had been more sombre, less readily drawn. It was as if conversation only irked him now. The truth could no longer be ignored: her husband had been out of countenance with her for some time. Their views did not align, they were no longer in sympathy with one another.