‘I know, but there’s no need to kill the horse for the sake of it. We could have been with my mother sooner, if you had listened to your father. I suppose the doctor and my father are with her, but I should be there as soon as I can.’ She continued looking at her son. He was so stubborn, but she understood why he needed to prove himself to her; he was only showing his love for her. ‘Now, if you are not about to change her, just let her trot home at a comfortable pace, and then Jethro or Ethan will cool her down when we reach home.’

Isabelle sat back and said nothing more, as Luke trotted Bess and the trap down the High Street of Skipton, with a surly look upon his face. Local business people and shoppers tipped their hats in recognition of one of the wealthiest shop owners in Skipton and beyond, as they made their way down the heavily used road, passing the church and heading out to the Dales beyond. Once outside Skipton, Isabelle let her feelings begin to show. The more she thought about her mother dying in her bed, the more she wanted to urge Luke and Bess on, but she was right – it was no good flogging the poor beast. Luke had obviously done that in order to reach her, by the look of the sweating animal. She should have made him change it, she thought, as she regretted not being firmer with her son. She bit her lip and fought back the tears and gazed around her over the white drystone walls at the blooming meadows. They were filled with buttercups, clover and daisies, a sea of yellow in the bright summer’s sun. How could anyone die on a day like this? she thought, as she looked up into the clear blue sky. It wasn’t right that her mother might be taken from her on a day like today.

‘Are you alright, Mother? We will get there in time.’ Luke dared not glance at his worried mother as they entered the fast-expanding railway village of Hellifield, with the echo of Bess’s hooves filling their ears as they passed under the railway line that meandered south into Lancashire. They were getting nearer to home; another few miles and they would be through Long Preston, and then it would be Settle, and home.