She stared at him in silence, then shook her head. Suddenly the thought of not marrying him, of going back to her humdrum life, was far more frightening than the thought of marrying him. ‘No. I shan’t do that.’

‘Good. Because I don’t want you to.’ He waited a minute, then said, ‘I suppose you’d better take me to meet your family. They won’t want to see me for the first time at the wedding.’

‘No!’ It came out more sharply than she had intended and made him frown. Well, she didn’t care. ‘I’d rather present them with a fait accompli. I’ve already told them I was going to look for another job. I’ll just – let them think I’ve found one.’

He looked at her in shock. ‘You’re intending to hide it from them?’

‘Yes.’ She realised she owed him an explanation. ‘They’ll try to stop me, I know they will.’ And she might let them persuade her.

‘I don’t agree with that. They can’t stop you unless you let them.’

‘They raised me. I owe them so much. I’d find it hard to go against them.’

He shook his head in bafflement. ‘This is the last thing I’d expected from you.’

‘I mean it.’

He shrugged. ‘Well, you know your own family best. But if you change your mind about that…’

‘I shan’t.’ She tried to smile at him and failed.

His voice softened. ‘We’ll do what you want, then.’

As they were driving back, they stopped for lunch. As she was finishing her meal, she realised that she didn’t know much about where they were going to live than that is was in Western Australia. Her research into emigrating had shown her that the state was about ten times larger than Britain, so she said, ‘You haven’t told me where exactly in Western Australia you live.’

‘My land is a couple of hours’ drive south of Perth, the capital. In the south-west, near the wine-growing district, though mine isn’t the sort you’d grow wine on.’

For a while he talked about Western Australia and it sounded like an absolute paradise. White beaches, a warm climate, no snow. Palm trees everywhere, parrots and tiny honey eaters flying about in suburban gardens.

She sighed ecstatically as she slowly stirred a second cup of coffee. ‘I can’t wait to see it.’

‘Western Australia does have a few faults, you know. Days when the temperature’s over a hundred degrees and you’re too hot and sweaty to think straight, mosquitoes, isolation, heavy rain sometimes in winter. And Perth is a long way from everywhere. The nearest city, even in Australia, is two thousand miles away.’

‘Goodness!’ But she couldn’t help smiling. ‘After the thriving metropolis of Upper Shenstead, I don’t know how I’ll cope with that.’

‘I think you’re a country girl at heart.’