Archie lay on his bed and looked up at the cracked whitewashed ceiling of his new bedroom. It was a step down from the beautifully plastered ceilings of Windfell Manor and their ornate cornicing. He listened to the men in the yard talking and laughing to one another, and smelt the fruitcake that Rosie was baking in the fireside oven of the kitchen. This was what he had missed – the simple things in life – not having to announce to the world his intentions for the day, what he wished to eat and where to eat it. He closed his eyes; life had gone full circle and he was back in the world that he’d been born into, albeit without his Lottie. But she would always be waiting for him in his dreams and thoughts.

6

6

Isabelle stood back and looked around the drawing room of Ingfield House, watching the parlour maid as she scurried around with the dust covers that were being thrown over the furniture they were going to leave in their abandoned home.

‘That’s right – I’m taking that vase. Be careful, I don’t want it breaking,’ shouted Isabelle at the hauliers who were moving the possessions that were to join her in the family’s new life at Windfell Manor.

‘Do we really need to take all these belongings to Windfell? Where are you going to place them? Windfell is full to the rafters already.’ James sat down in one of the covered chairs and watched as his wife gave orders to the scurrying young men. They dared not answer back to his domineering wife.

‘Really, James, we need to make our mark on Windfell – make it ours. My mother and Archie have always kept the house smart, but some of their furniture and decor are a bit dated. I aim to stamp my own mark on Windfell and make it our home. I’m so glad that we don’t have to sell Ingfield. I hope that one day the house, and most of the contents, will make a good wedding present for our Jane, if and when she is to wed.’ Isabelle glanced at her husband as she stood and looked around at the emptying room.

‘Jane to wed – I hope not! Or at least not for a few years yet, she’s only seventeen and it would be a brave man that tackles her. Do you know I caught her reading one of the ridiculous pamphlets those visiting suffragettes to Skipton were handing out the other day? She’s definitely got a mind of her own.’ James sighed as he watched his wife remonstrating about how her belongings should be handled, instead of listening to him. ‘She even had the cheek the other day to quote their saying, “Deeds, not Words”, to me when I said I had not spoken to your father about offering help when he moved out.’