‘Aye, but I’m back now, and I was going to tell your father all and ask for his permission for me to marry you. Regardless of who I am. Now, with things like they are, perhaps asking his permission to court you would be a better idea. It’ll not be as rushed, and then there’s no more sneaking about. Neither of us have enjoyed lying and being secretive.’

‘My father would never agree, nor will my mother, especially with you disappearing like you did.’ Rosie looked up at him, thinking it was a hopeless request.

‘Nay, I don’t think they will. But your grandfather knows we are made for one another. I can tell from the way he looks at us when we are just talking together. It’s better to marry for love than for money. After all, isn’t that what he did?’ Ethan held Rosie tight. ‘I can but try and, if they are truly against us, then we will continue like we have done, until they realize that we are meant for one another.’

‘Alright, but they will both say I’m too young and that I should set my sights higher. I know they will.’ Rosie held Ethan tightly; he was everything to her, she had known that when he’d left her on her own in her grief.

‘Tonight, then, I’ll ask them after supper.’ Ethan bent down and kissed her. ‘And yes, I do love you, Rosie Atkinson, and now I can truly say it, as we are under no pressure. I would have married you, if you were still carrying our baby. I would not have deserted you, no matter what.’

‘Now then, lad, I suppose you’ve come to plead for your job back and tell us why you went wandering without leave.’ Danny looked at Ethan. For once he looked respectable: his shirt was clean, his corduroy trousers were stainless and his long dark hair was brushed and in place.

‘Aye, I’d be grateful if I could keep my job, especially after I tell you why I left. I hope that perhaps you’ll respect the dilemma I find myself in.’ Ethan looked at Danny and Archie, as they both sat at the polished dining-room table, in a room that was not often used by the farming family. It was one Ethan had never been in before. It was obvious to him that this was just as an important meeting to them as it was to him, and he felt uneasy as he glanced around the room at the oil paintings on the walls and the polished silver upon the dressers. There he stood, a stable boy asking for no less than the hand of the lass that all this would belong to one day, so perhaps he did have ideas above his station.