‘If you had told Lord Stow the truth about Monty, Marigold’s name would have been dragged into the mud along with her mother’s,’ Sybil reasoned.

Rosie sadly shook her head. ‘I couldn’t have done that; I love them both far too much.’

Later, back in the privacy of her room, Sybil reran Rosie’s story over and over in her head. Not for a single minute did she doubt that it was the truth. Though Lady Veronica’s story was far more tragic than her own, it nevertheless had Monty’s trademark all over it: bullying, threatening, manipulating – she recognized them all. She, like Lady Veronica, had been forced to accept what he had thrust upon her; she had, in fact, got off lightly compared with his poor wife. Though Sybil hugged the long-awaited knowledge to herself, there was little gratification in knowing of somebody else’s misery.

‘Now that I’ve finally got something on Monty, what am I actually going to do with it?’ she asked herself.

Like Rosie, she didn’t want anything to do with information that was detrimental to Lady Veronica and her little girl. Sybil’s vendetta was with the Brigadier; he was the one she wanted to turn the tables on, not his wife and child. But, as long as Monty had Lady Veronica’s daughter’s illegitimacy as his ace card, the poor woman was a prisoner within her own marriage. It would take some time to work out a strategy, but there had to be one, Sybil determined.

‘If there’s any justice in this world,’ she said through gritted teeth, ‘Monty must pay for what he thinks he’s got away with.’

29. Ronnie

Ronnie’s plan to run away was almost foiled by his little sister. Usually the Larkin children, plus Ronnie and Sally, got the bus home from school, Sally sitting alongside May at the front of the bus, while Ronnie sat with the Larkin lads at the back. On this particular occasion, just as the bus was about to pull away from the bus stop, one of the boys yelled out, ‘Oi, Sal! Where’s your Ronnie?’

Sally, who hadn’t even registered her brother’s absence, stood up to take a look around. Baffled, she replied that she had no idea. ‘Don’t worry, lovie, he’s probably playing marbles,’ May said comfortingly.

Knowing how unsociable Ronnie was, Sally was quite sure that he would never stay behind after school to play marbles when he could be running up the fells with the Larkin boys. Immediately sensing something wasn’t quite right, she jumped up before the bus pulled away.

‘I’ll go and look for him,’ she called over her shoulder, as she hopped off the bus.