‘No, you don’t!’ she hissed. ‘Before your father nearly killed my husband and son he’d spent the whole day making jibes at my father, even at the twins and they’re infants! You’re both cut from the same cloth, selfish, proud and insufferable. I don’t ever want to see Sir Oliver again and I want you out of my house.’

‘Jessica.’ A low hoarse voice from the bed filtered through her anger and resentment. ‘I don’t want this unpleasantness. Let Luke stay and say his piece.’

‘You’re in no state to listen, dearest. Rest now. In a while I’ll fetch up some broth,’ Jessica cooed to Kane as if he might be her baby son. She wrung out a cloth soaking in a bowl of cold water and replaced it for the hot, sweaty one lying across his brow.

Kane had plunged down the steps backwards, striking his head against the last step, knocking himself unconscious. His collar bone had been cracked and his left leg broken. The leg was in splints, resting heavily on a bolster and covered with a bread and herb poultice to draw out the impurities.

A soothing smell of lavender and sandalwood, heated by a mass of candles, overwhelmed the farmyard smells coming in through the open window and provided mental and spiritual comfort for the invalid. Even so, the smell of human flesh in crisis, similar to that which had assailed Luke’s nose from those sick and dying in the poor areas of London, pervaded the room. Luke felt afraid for his brother. His nightmares about the family physician labouring to thrust back his dislocated shoulder after his own accident had made a dreaded return.

‘He will recover?’ he mouthed quietly across to Jessica.

She stared at him grimly. ‘By God’s grace.’

Kane tried to stay awake, but racked by pain and fever, slipped back into the land of fantastical dreams, twitching, occasionally moaning.

‘If you think I find pleasure in seeing my brother like this, Jessica,’ Luke said soberly, ‘you’re very much mistaken. I can’t begin to tell you how sorry I am to see him suffering like this. Thank God, some instinct made him hug Harry against his body. Is there anything I can do for you or Kane?’ She made no reply, so he went on. ‘Jessica, I’ve come to say that I’ve purchased a property and I am going away very soon.’

‘Go on,’ Jessica said a little less harshly. Despite her hurt and anger at the heartless treatment of her father and the consequences to her own little family, she wasn’t indifferent to learn of Luke’s plans. There had been times in the past when they had shared moments of friendship.