‘That’ll be old Bill Brown’s grandson, Daniel. He’s just lost his grandfather and was ordering his funeral cards. Your grandfather will know them – they farm over at Ragged Hall. No doubt he’ll be delivering an invitation to your grandfather, as all the farmers in the district knew and respected the old gent.’

‘Oh, I didn’t think I knew him. I just thought his face looked familiar. I must be thinking of someone else. However, you are correct in thinking that my grandfather will have dealt with his grandfather, if they farm.’ Jane picked up her posy bag and looked at the printer.

‘Aye, he might not know Daniel Bland, for he’s just come to live with the old man, from what I hear. He’s been keeping him company in his hour of need. It’s a sad day for him.’ Mr Lambert shook his head as he turned away from Jane.

‘Indeed, Mr Lambert. I should have given my condolences to him as well. I do hope he calls in at Windfell so that I may do so.’ She looked sympathetically at the printer. ‘Good day, Mr Lambert.’

‘Aye, good day, lass. I’ll see to your invitations for you.’ The printer watched as Jane made her way out of the shop.

She walked up through busy Duke Street, her head held high as she acknowledged fellow shoppers and neighbours. But her mind was on the good-looking man who had stood behind her at the printer’s. What a pity he would probably be taking the funeral card to Crummock and not to Windfell, for she would have liked to have seen more of him and introduce herself. He had seemed strangely familiar, but at the same time she had never seen him before in her life. She smiled to herself as she thought of the mop of blond hair and the blue eyes; he was a good-looking man, that was for sure.

‘So, you enjoyed your day with your father?’ Isabelle looked at her daughter as Jane flicked through the pages of The Lady, seemingly uninterested in the contents, just as she was in the Weldon’s Ladies’ Journal that had been discarded to one side, as she decided that she couldn’t be bothered to read either magazine on this quiet Sunday morning.

‘Yes, it is so different from here. Leeds is so full of life, and the shops . . . well, our little shopkeepers in Settle just can’t be compared to the bustling arcades in Leeds. The ladies are more fashionable and the gentleman are that well groomed, I swear even I must have stood out like a country bumpkin.’ Jane sighed.