‘I suppose not.’ For the first time since she had met Ruby, Clarissa found herself regretting the impulse that had made her persuade the other woman to become her friend. If she hadn’t brought Ruby home that day after the incident in Castle Leazes, Edward would never have met her and would have continued on his merry way, heart intact. But he had met her and what had been done couldn’t be undone. And she herself had a great affection for Ruby; in fact, one could say she loved her like the sister she had never had. It was a tangle. And the person at the centre of the tangle seemed unaware of it, which didn’t help matters.

She hugged Edward again and then rose to her feet, pulling him up. ‘Come on, let’s go for a walk in the grounds and then we’ll have cocktails before dinner. Godfrey will be home soon and I warn you now all he’ll want to talk about is the ins and outs of Scotland beating England for the Calcutta Cup for the first time in the history of the competition. He’s taken it as a personal insult, bless him.’

Edward smiled as he acquiesced, while all the time inside he was saying, Two opposites, that’s what you and Godfrey are, with very little in common beyond the fact you love each other, but however diverse your opinions are on most things, that’s all right, isn’t it, because when it comes to class and the division between upper, middle and working class, you both sing from the same hymn sheet. That’s what you think, Clarissa, and it makes me angry. It makes me very angry.

Clarissa was holding the drawing-room door open for him to pass through in front of her, and as he looked at her dear face he suddenly felt a pang of guilt. Before he had met Ruby he’d probably thought the same, he acknowledged ruefully. But he had met her and it had changed him in many ways, not least because it had caused him to question the rights and wrongs of men and women being bred to think of themselves as superior. The aristocrats, the landed gentry – who were they, after all? You only had to delve back into the history of the Royal Family to find a trail of murderers, poisoners and miscreants second to none.

He stepped into the splendid panelled hall, and as a maid appeared as if by magic, he wondered what his sister would say if she could read his mind. And if he added that he was lonely, that even in the midst of family and friends and no matter what he was doing he was heart lonely for Ruby, would Clarissa understand that his love was no passing fancy?