Such was the voice’s urgency that Charlotte whirled round, trying to make out a denser patch of dark in the darkness. Fortunately, she did not have to go far; loud snorts and the jangle of bridle and tack led her to the trembling bulk of a horse. Several frustrating minutes followed, during which it evaded her every attempt to approach it, but just as she was beginning to wonder if she would ever catch the animal, it paused to nibble at a hedge, and made no objection when Charlotte felt for and took charge of the reins.

She led the beast back to the shape on the ground; she already knew its identity, although she could not believe or fathom the evidence of her own eyes and ears. But it was unmistakably Anne de Bourgh’s voice that greeted her: ‘For the love of God, Mrs Collins, what are you doing out here in the middle of a winter’s night? Bruno almost ran you down. You startled us both, and now look at the poke we find ourselves in. My ankle is hurt, and I shall need your assistance.’ This last was resentfully said, and Charlotte found herself apologising for her trespass as she hunkered down beside Anne, stretching out tentative hands.

The Rosings heiress was recognisable by her voice only; the person before Charlotte was a young man, in breeches and riding coat of antique cut, cursing as fluently as any sailor. Charlotte set her shock aside for the moment; she could deal with only one crisis at a time, and questions could come later. How badly was the midnight rider injured?

In response to her queries, she received only tart replies: ‘Just my ankle is amiss, no thanks to you. Bruno is usually as sound as a rock. What d’ye think you’re doing, roaming about our park at night?’

Charlotte, wondering why she should be the defensive one – given that her interrogator was a lady dressed in man’s clothing, out alone on horseback in the middle of the night – stammered something about sleeplessness, her compulsion to be outside, to feel only the roof of the sky.

This seemed to mollify her interlocutor. ‘Ah Mrs Collins, it seems we both needed an escape. Well, now you see: this is my means of making that escape. But I require your help. Let me see if I can stand – if my foot will bear my weight.’