Luke was bored and irritable, and felt aggrieved rather than honoured that he’d be chief godfather, and he mumbled his responses throughout the service. When his brother-in-law mentioned the part about fighting evil and the devil, Luke scanned the cluster of manor servants for Jack and Alicia, anxious to satisfy himself they were safely present, not victims yet of the evil devils they had escaped in London. Why couldn’t he shake off the feeling that they might all still be in danger and why bring the word ‘yet’ to mind? That was a worry on its own.

It was a hot steamy day, stifling and airless inside the church, and although Luke was near the door, a sudden wave of claustrophobia threatened to overwhelm him. In a vivid flashback he saw the town house in St James’s Street on fire. He felt himself running towards it, saw Jack frantically keeping apace. He smelled the thick smoke and felt the scorch of the flames. He heard the desperate screams and the cries for help.

He realized that a small gloved hand was holding his and it brought him back to the present.

Staring down, he saw his mother had forsaken his father’s side. Her lips were moving, but at first he was incapable of understanding her words. Then he made out her whisper, ‘Do you want to go outside?’

He shook his head. Faced straight ahead. Took a deep breath back to composure.

Kerensa had to force her hand out of Luke’s crushing grip or a cry of pain would have been inescapable. She and Oliver had tried to talk to Luke about his experiences in London, more in an interested way than as an examination, but each time he insisted there was little to report. Always he had looked harsh, angry, resentful.

She became aware that Oliver was watching her, a grave scrutiny for a moment, then his expression lightened. Mood swings, such as she had endured in their early days together. Those old, cruel cat and mouse games. It was as if time had regressed twenty-four years. And gallingly, somewhat pathetically, just because Clem was back in Mount’s Bay. Several times since Oliver’s apparent clash with him, she had felt her husband’s eyes piercing into her, as if in accusation. He had no reason to be jealous – but she had no doubt that this was the trouble.

From here she was directly across the font from Clem. On one side of him was Catherine, on the other his sister, Rosie, and her husband, Matthias Renfree. The Renfrees’ and Catherine’s eyes were also occasionally aimed her way. She was mindful to attend only to the proceedings, while casting anxious glances at Luke.