It took several days, meetings with the estate managers, and a steady refusal to engage with her mother’s expostulations and objections, but in the end, no one could dispute the charity of her wishes, however much it might baffle them. Anne was thus able to arrange that this particular troupe should, on all their visits to the district, be given the use of a field on Rosings land, with access to a stream and copses holding plentiful dead wood.

‘Since then, I have visited them during their sojourns here – not often, as my mother will not hear of my going unaccompanied, and Mrs Jenkinson deplores the very idea, anticipating squalor and smells,’ she told Charlotte. ‘But Walter sometimes rides over with me, when he can be spared. I think he quite enjoys it – he slopes off to look at the ponies and talk horseflesh with the men, assuming that I am there because I wish my palm read or my fortune told.’

She nodded at Walter’s stolid back ahead of them. ‘I do not correct this misapprehension; if the district thinks I am in search of some sort of scrying, no doubt a matter of beaus and balls, that is to my advantage.’ She shot Charlotte a sidelong glance: ‘And sometimes at night, the camp makes an object to my rides. It is no bad thing to pause for something to drink, to have company by firelight or starlight, to hear singing or stories. We are part-outlaws together, held equal in a strange comradeship of mutual blackmail; I ignore the contents of their stewpots, and they do not remark on my breeches.’

Charlotte could not help smiling at this, and said: ‘I understand what you relate, unorthodox as it may be, but I am curious as to why I have been invited to join you today.’

‘Mrs Collins, I do not offer myself as a benefactor or advisor to these people. It is mere chance and circumstance that has brought about our current relationship. As I have told you before, I am in truth a selfish creature: both parties in this case benefit from our understanding, but I have little interest in providing further forms of aid. However, I am not unfeeling, and there are circumstances of sorrow and suffering I would like to see alleviated. More recently, the women have told me of a specific situation that requires your advice and intervention. I will allow them to explain to you in person.’