‘I suppose I could. I’m obviously not needed in the store.’ Jane looked across at her father. ‘Am I really to come with you to Leeds tomorrow? Will I have time to look around the arcades and perhaps do some shopping?’

‘If your mother agrees, I don’t see why not. You haven’t been for a while, and it won’t hurt the staff there to meet you and realize that you are the future face of Atkinson’s.’ James smiled at the excitement his daughter was showing. ‘And I suppose you will be wanting some spending money – so I’d say “yes” to delivering your mother’s invitation instructions. Although I can’t say I’m looking forward to a ball. Opening our house to half the dale does not fill me with pleasure.’

‘I don’t know what to do regarding the invitation to Harriet and Danny and their family. Harriet told me the other day that Rosie is walking out with Ethan – Mazy and Jethro’s son. Now I don’t want to sound a snob, but I do hope they don’t bring him along as part of their family. Imagine, the stable boy coming as a guest into our home on such a grand occasion. What would people say?’ Isabelle breathed in deeply and shook her head in disbelief.

‘Rosie is walking out with Ethan?’ Jane squealed. ‘Has she no pride? I wouldn’t be seen dead walking out with him, he’s so common.’

‘Keep your voice down, Jane, Mazy will be able to hear you.’ Isabelle quietened her daughter quickly.

‘He’s not a bad lad. I’d have thought Rosie might have set her sights higher. It will suit your stepfather, Isabelle. I can’t see your problem. Just ask them all as a family and then, if Ethan comes with them, he does; and if not, you have no problem.’ James smiled to himself. Jane was so much like her mother.

‘I just hope he doesn’t. It could be quite embarrassing. Now, come with me, Jane, and I’ll give you the instructions for the printer, before your father and I catch the train into work. Make sure you ask to have them printed for the middle of the month. I want us to be the first in the district to announce our intentions. I want to get one ahead of the Fosters at Anley Hall. Mary Foster is always bragging about how grand her Christmas Ball is, so let’s better her this year.’ Isabelle got up from the table, leaving James thinking how mother and daughter both had attitude; if they thought themselves far better than the rest of society, they were heading for a fall.

‘My mother would like two hundred invitations to be delivered no later than the fifteenth of this month to us at Windfell.’ Jane stood next to the counter, looking at the printer with his blue ink-stained hands.