‘What’s up?’ Clem said, rising hastily, leaving his tankard on the bale. Kane peeped over from his hiding place.

The Trenchard twins were not the kind of children to play silly practical jokes and from the urgency on their faces there was obviously something amiss. Philip looked at his brother before speaking.

‘’Tis Master Luke, he’s hurting Jessica and won’t let her go, she’s crying.’

‘What!’ their father exploded.

‘We wanted to fight him, Tas,’ David added, ‘but Miss Olivia said to fetch someone.’

Kane was now standing on the bale looking straight at Clem. Alice and Kerensa, sensing trouble, moved quickly to the male gathering.

Alice took Clem’s arm. ‘What’s going on, Clem?’

‘I’ll make him pay!’ Clem hissed, pushing off Alice’s hand and storming outside.

The twins followed on his heels, leaving Kane, his eyes even more startled, to explain to the two worried mothers the cause of Clem’s abrupt departure.

Clem was furious as he ran to the stud stables. Jessica was a tough child used to pitching in with her brothers’ squabbles; if she was crying then Luke Pengarron must be really hurting her, and he hated the thought of a true Pengarron even touching his daughter. He found her wailing; the tall, broad-shouldered boy was clutching her by both arms. Olivia was trying to reason with Luke and pull him away. His face red with fury, Clem wrenched Luke away from Jessica and keeping a grip on him by the back of his coat held him up in the air kicking and screaming.

‘Let me go, you bloody swine!’ Luke screamed in rage.

‘I’ll thrash the skin off your backside first, you little runt,’ Clem snarled, ‘terrorising a little maid younger than yourself. And mind your language.’

Quick and agile, Kane reached Clem first out of all those rushing from the barn. ‘Please, Clem,’ he pleaded, tugging at the waistband of Clem’s breeches, ‘put Luke down, he’ll say he’s sorry.’

‘Sorry! Him!’ Clem snorted. ‘There’s too much of his rotten father in him for that! I’ll be the one to make sure he’s sorry.’

A crowd was gathering. Alice shouted at Clem to release Luke as Jessica ran to her. Rosie gasped and threw her hands to her face. Kerensa, her face ashen, moved forward to where Clem could clearly see her.

In precise words, she said, ‘Please put Luke down, Clem.’ Clem made no move and she added purposefully, ‘He’s my son too.’

Clem sharply dropped his arm, making Luke’s feet hit the ground with a thud, but he held on tightly to the boy’s coat. He spoke to Kerensa as if they were the only two people there.

‘It’s hard to think of this child as yours. I see too much of his father in him.’