‘Oh?’ Arthur felt a sick feeling stir in the pit of his stomach. ‘Go on, please.’

‘You do know that she loved you before you left?’

‘She intimated as much,’ Arthur replied carefully.‘And I returned the sentiment. But that was not sufficient for her older brother. He was kind enough to point out that no man with any integrity would let his sister wed a lowly army officer with few prospects.’

‘And now you have wealth and title.’ Mrs Sparrow nodded. ‘And every prospect of further fame and fortune. So there can be no further objection on that front.You must admit that her brother acted correctly in defending her best interest.’

‘Perhaps.’

‘You were not the first, nor the last, to be rebuffed on those grounds.’

‘Not the last?’ Arthur felt his heart quicken with anxiety. ‘What do you mean?’

Mrs Sparrow folded her hands in her lap. ‘Arthur, you must understand that ten years is a long time.’

‘I think I know that,’ Arthur responded with bitter feeling.

‘Of course. But while you were busily occupied with your duties in India, Kitty was sitting at home. Losing you broke her heart, I think. She did not go to the soirées at Dublin Castle. In fact she rarely ventured out to any social event for some years. At length, however, she felt that you might not return from India, and even if you did you were sure to have transferred your feelings to someone else. So she re-joined the world.’ Mrs Sparrow noticed his pained expression and leaned forward to pat his hand reassuringly. ‘Please, Arthur, don’t think that she had forgotten you. After all, the odd letter did pass between you from time to time. Kitty just felt that she had to continue with her life.That’s when she met young Galbraith Lowry Cole.’

She paused to let the implication of her words sink in. Arthur swallowed and nodded. ‘Please continue.’

‘Galbraith was a handsome young man. And very earnest, much like you in many respects. He fell for Kitty and courted her as only a young man desperately in love can, bombarding her with notes and letters and gifts until he wore Kitty down and she began to form an attachment to him. I could see that he was not suitable for her, but she just said that you would never be coming back for her and she must make do. By and by I think her affections did begin to turn towards him, once she had convinced herself that she could not have you.’