‘He’s… he’s not there, Mrs Lambrianu,’ she said. ‘His bed has been slept in, but he’s not there, and he isn’t with Mistress Annette, either. Her bed is empty, too.’

Miriam and Fredo looked across the breakfast table at each other. Fredo lowered his newspaper and watched his wife jump out of her seat and run upstairs.

The maid was right; Antonias wasn’t there. Miriam opened the wardrobes; his clothes were still there, but he wasn’t. She ran into Annette’s bedroom. Her clothes were still there, too, but Miriam noticed that her jewellery box was empty and had been tossed aside.

Instinctively, Miriam knew exactly what Annette had done. She had gone, and she had taken Antonias with her!

Miriam went downstairs and was informed by Fredo that the safe was empty. She had taken everything.

Against Fredo’s wishes, Miriam telephoned the police, desperate to find Annette and her beloved Antonias. She instructed the maid to ring the large bell outside, to gather as many of the workers as possible to search the land, just in case they were both out there, somewhere.

Although Miriam feared it was fruitless, she also reckoned anything was worth a try. She was desperate and panic-stricken. More to the point, Annette had double-crossed her!

Miriam vowed she would find Antonias and bring him home, where he belonged, no matter how long it took.

The police informed Miriam and Fredo that, apart from the money being stolen from the safe, no crime had been committed. Antonias was Annette’s son, and she could do as she pleased where he was concerned. Miriam didn’t tell them about the other money she had given Annette.

The police said they would look for her and arrest her for the theft of the money from the safe, but that was all they could do when they found her.

Fredo spoke up, then, and insisted he wouldn’t have Annette arrested for the theft. All they wanted was to know that she and Antonias were safe.

He blamed Miriam as much as he did Annette for entering into this tug of war, fighting and using his grandson as they had. He thought that after Annette returned home, she would write to them and inform them of her and Antonias’s whereabouts.

He wanted to keep the peace; any contact with his grandson was better than none, and Miriam threatening Annette with the police wasn’t going to make her come back.

Miriam was hot-tempered and acted in haste, whereas Fredo was a mild-mannered man who didn’t want to frighten Annette. She had just lost her husband; she wasn’t thinking straight.

He assured Miriam that after Annette and Antonias had had a break from everything, they would come back. After all, they only had the money from the safe, and that wasn’t going to last forever.

Fredo didn’t know that Miriam had given Annette money on the understanding she would let Antonias stay with them. He would have been angry if he had known she was prepared to buy her own grandson.