Miss Orrincourt inhaled deeply and then made a petulant little sound. ‘Well, I am fed up,’ she said as if Troy had offered some word of criticism. ‘I don’t say he hasn’t given me things. This coat’s rather nice, don’t you think? It belonged to a lady who was in the Wrens. I saw it advertised. She’d never worn it. Two hundred and dirt cheap, really.’

They jogged on in a silence broken only by the clop of Rosinante’s hooves. There was the little railway Halt and there, beyond a curve in the low hills, the roofs of Ancreton village.

‘Well, I mean to say,’ said Miss Orrincourt, ‘when I fixed up with Noddy to come here I didn’t know what I was letting myself in for. I’ll say I didn’t! Well, you know. On the surface it looked like a win. It’s high up, and my doctor says my chest ought to be high up, and there wasn’t much doing in the business. My voice isn’t so hot, and I haven’t got the wind for dancing like I had, and the “legitimate” gives me a pain in the neck. So what have you?’

Stumped for an answer, as she had so often been since her arrival at Ancreton, Troy said: ‘I suppose the country does feel a bit queer when you’re used to bricks and mortar.’

‘It feels, to be frank, like death warmed up. Not that I don’t say you could do something with that Jack’s-come-home up there. You know. Weekend parties, with the old bunch coming down and all the fun and games. And no Ancreds. Well, I wouldn’t mind Ceddie. He’s one-of-those, of course, but I always think they’re good mixers in their own way. I’ve got it all worked out. Something to do, isn’t it, making plans? It may come up in the lift one of these days; you never know. But no Ancreds when I throw a party in the Baronial Hall. You bet, no Ancreds.’

‘Sir Henry?’ Troy ventured.

‘Well,’ said Miss Orrincourt, ‘I was thinking of later on, if you know what I mean.’

‘Good Lord!’ Troy ejaculated involuntarily.

‘Mind, as I say, I’m fond of Noddy. But it’s a funny old world, and there you have it. I must say it’s nice having someone to talk to. Someone who isn’t an Ancred. I can’t exactly confide in Ceddie, because he’s the heir, and he mightn’t quite see things my way.’

‘Possibly not.’