‘I have, child. But your grandmother was my very life.’ Archie wiped his eyes and looked at the doctor, who shook his head, as no signs of life could be found.

Isabelle broke down and cried, while Danny hugged her. ‘I’ve just lost my best friend as well as my mother,’ she sobbed.

‘Yes, me too. She may not have been my natural mother, but she never treated me as anything other than as if I was. Harriet and all my family will miss her – we owe everything to her.’ Danny thought back to when his father, Archie, had married Charlotte, his first love, after both had been left bereft following the deaths of their original partners, and both finding that they were very much dependent on one another.

‘Are Harriet and the children at Crummock?’ Isabelle blew her nose on her lace handkerchief and looked at her stepbrother.

‘Yes, our Ben has the German measles, and Georgina sounds as if she’s getting it too, she’s so twisty and in a mood. Rosie stayed behind to help her mother, else she would be here with me.’ Danny felt he had to explain why his side of the family were not with him, at the deathbed of the woman they owed everything to.

‘It’s alright, lad. Charlotte knew everybody loved her, and that’s all that matters.’ Archie looked up and across at his son.

Dr Burrows closed his bag and felt that his time with the family had come to an end, and they needed their privacy.

‘I’m sure you want to be on your own now. I’ll be back tomorrow with a death certificate, in order for you to bury Charlotte.’ He shook his head. ‘She was one hell of a woman, if you don’t mind me saying so. She’s going to be missed.’ He stood up and shook Archie’s hand and patted his old friend on the back. He looked around at the woman who, as a baby, he had brought into the world. ‘Big shoes to fill, Isabelle, but she will have taught you well, if I know Charlotte.’

Danny stood up and opened the bedroom door for the doctor to leave, as Isabelle rose and hugged the old man, who felt like part of the family.

‘Thank you for being here for her. It is what she would have wanted.’ She hugged him tightly.

‘You be strong. Your family – especially Archie – will need you.’ Dr Burrows put on his top hat and left the grieving family to say goodbye to their loved one.

Thomson, the butler, met Dr Burrows at the bottom of the stairs. Guessing that his mistress had died if the doctor was leaving, he didn’t say a word, but simply opened the front door for the sad-looking old man.