‘Yes,’ said Mr Dutton. ‘As things currently stand. There is a Private Members’ Bill to come before the House in the autumn, entitled the Married Woman’s Property Act, which would reverse that situation, if passed, but we doubt that it will pass. Is that not so, Mr Caldecott?’

‘We fear it may not,’ said Caldecott. ‘But there will be further Bills …’

‘Yes,’ said Ross, ‘but as things stand, as you say, if Miss Adeane … or rather once Miss Adeane becomes Mrs Ross … then such property as she may have been left would by law pass to me, as her husband? Am I correct in this?’

The solicitors looked helplessly at each other, as if neither of them wished to have the task of answering. But at length, both of them nodded. Then Ross turned to Jane.

‘I only raise this, Jane, because it is an important matter and I wouldn’t like you to be deluded into believing that this can proceed exactly as stated in your aunt’s Will, when the reality will be different. But rest assured that I recognise that there is some injustice in the thing. Your aunt wished you to have the place and I will do nothing concerning the house without your consent. All decisions will be shared …’

Miss Jane pushed her chair back and stood up. Mr Dutton and Mr Caldecott could only gape as the great height of her unfolded itself before them. Without looking at Ross – indeed feeling that she could not bear to look at him – she said:

‘I would like to state, to all assembled here, that I think there is much injustice in the matter! And the greatest portion of this injustice is towards my beloved aunt. It was not her wish that her house be given to a person whom she did not know. She had a plan for the spaces she inhabited and which were precious to her and the plan concerned me and no one else. It concerned me because she knew I would keep everything safe for her, quite as if she might return among us one day. My aunt told me secrets about her life which nobody else knew. She shared her pain with me and it was me, I am told, she called for when she knew she was dying. So her bequest has a logic to it, which the law should respect. And I think it unkind of Doctor Ross … I think it very unkind of Doctor Ross … to try to undo that logic mere moments after it has been set out … and I really think I cannot—’

Jane wished to go on and say that she couldn’t forgive Ross. She knew that he’d done nothing more than point out a law of the land, but she cursed him for his intervention, and would have declared how wretched and thoughtless she found it to be if, at that moment, she had not been stabbed with a sudden acute cramp in her womb and remembered with terror her pregnant state. She sat down abruptly and, as she felt her father’s arm come round her shoulders, she began to weep uncontrollably. Once again, Mr Caldecott sprang to his feet and hurried to fetch another glass of port from the low cupboard.