She had powder on her shoulder and splattered down the front of her dress. He rubbed at it gently, pulling free the fine muslin fichu which uncovered the upper swell of her breasts. He loved this part of her. Flawless, snow-white warm skin and he kissed her there.

Catherine decided to bind him to her exclusively with whatever means it took. She pushed him down on the bed. He looked stunned, she had never initiated familiarity in the bedroom before.

‘I’ve missed you, I’ve missed being with you, Clem.’ She crawled up the bed and sat astride his body. ‘I’ll show you how much.’

Thirty

‘What are ’ee thinking ’bout, my ’an’some?’

‘Oh, Bea.’ Kerensa was startled and sat up straight in her chair. ‘I was just taking a few quiet moments before your party gets under way. You should get ready. You don’t want to be late celebrating your special day.’

Beatrice stubbornly made acquaintance with a chair. ‘You forget I knows thee. You was thinking ’bout someone in pa’tic’lar, weren’t ’ee?’

‘None of your business, my dear.’ Kerensa smiled in a way to humour the nonagenarian. ‘Now off you go. Polly and Cordelia are waiting for you.’

‘I reckon you def’nit’ly ’ad someone on your mind and I do reckon ’is name begins with a C.’

‘You think I’ve got Clem on my mind?’

‘I never said nothin’ afore, ’twas better to let you an’ Oliver work out yer strivings yer own way, like ’ee did backalong. You was different this time. You was un’appy just the same and you missed un, but I also gleaned ’ow full of spirits you was each time you come ’ome from Tolwithrick. ’Ad to be a reason fer that, and usually when a maid looks that sort of ’appy, it’s ’cause she’m in love. You’ve ’ad yer time with – won’t say ’is name out loud – and now both ’e and Oliver are back in their own ’omes. What’re ’ee goin’ to do now, Kerensa? I’m not askin’ ’ee to tell me, ’tedn’t really my place to ask, but my dear gurl, you’m as precious to me as if I birthed and raised ’ee myself, and I’m takin’ the liberty to warn ’ee to think carefully. You’m in an impossible place, do the wrong thing and you could find yerself without either of ’em, out in the cold, in a living ’ell.’ Tears flooded down the old woman’s raddled cheeks. ‘I didn’t live all these years to see you brung to that.’

‘Oh, Beatrice, don’t cry, not on your birthday, not for me.’

Beatrice caressed her lovely, concerned face with a motherly finger. ‘You can’t ’ave ’em both. I know you want to, mebbe even think you can, but it’s not possible, my luvver. Think on it, promise me you will.’