‘No, no, Miss Jane – I thought that was what you wanted. You looked so jealous when Rosie and I were talking together the other day. And just then you smiled and encouraged me. You shouldn’t have led me on, with your false feelings.’ Ethan stood back from the angered young woman.

‘I most certainly did not, and I wasn’t jealous of farm girl Rosie – you are decidedly wrong. You and she are welcome to one another.’ Jane stomped away from her long-faced would-be suitor, stopping only to shout back at him, ‘Your days are numbered, Ethan Haygarth,’ while she made her way down to the river at the bottom of the parkland, in order to find her brother, Luke.

Jane walked hastily through the flowering grassland, the stalks catching in her laced boots and long skirts as she looked back and saw Ethan following her. This made her break into a run as she tried to escape from him, although secretly she wanted him to catch her. She shouted down towards the river bank in a bid for Luke to hear her, realizing what Ethan could do to her if he caught her, and wanting Luke to be aware of her presence, as back-up.

‘Luke! Luke, where are you?’ She held onto an ash tree’s trunk as she picked her way over its roots and the slippery white limestone of the river’s edge. She lifted up her skirts as her feet crunched over the shingle while she made her way to what she knew to be Luke’s favourite fishing pool, just below the mighty roar of one of the many waterfalls along the River Ribble. She was aware that she was moving slower than her pursuer, impeded by her long skirts. ‘Luke!’ she yelled out, as a hand moved over her mouth and Ethan whispered in her ear to be quiet.

Above the waterfall, Luke suddenly heard his name being yelled, and peered over the moss-covered falls to see Ethan and his sister talking and what appeared to be arguing. He waved with his spare hand as he balanced on a particularly slippery boulder, with his rod in the other hand. He edged nearer the falls and waved his rod at the couple, who seemed to be urging him towards them. Picking his way in bare feet, he balanced on the edge of the falls, trying to find an easy way down, as he looked into the gushing waters and the deep pool below him.

‘Luke!’ Jane yelled out as Ethan suddenly stopped arguing, after realizing the danger Luke was in. Gone were all his thoughts about trying to amend the misinterpretations of earlier, which were what had led him to follow Jane down to the river’s edge. Now he had to make sure no harm came to Luke, who was oblivious to the depth of the pool below him.