The most obvious reason for Kerensa’s unhappiness was that she had discovered Oliver was having an affair. The whole parish had waited expectantly for it to happen. He had never gone long without looking for the favours of a female before he married and women had never stopped throwing themselves at him since. But if Oliver was having, or had had, an affair, Kerensa would be the one showing hostility, not Oliver.

Alice found Jessica’s doll lying forlornly on the ground at the scene of the incident, its dress dirtied by someone’s careless foot.

‘He knows now… your father,’ she said, rubbing at the dirt with stiff fingers. Clem wasn’t blind, he would have seen how things stood between Oliver and Kerensa.

Whatever the trouble was, Alice’s worst fears were the same as Matthias’s. What would Clem do? She had not asked Matthias the reason for his more frequent visits to Trecath-en Farm but she was certain it had nothing to do with her pining sister-in-law.

After giving Morley and Kenver a brief explanation as to why they were home early, and leaving a subdued Alice to fill in the details, Clem headed out of the farmyard with Charity dutifully at his side. He had a lot to think about. There was enough light from the stars to tramp the familiar track to the bottom of Trecath-en valley and sit under the clump of elm trees at the river’s edge.

Kerensa was miserable and now he knew why. Oliver Pengarron had made it plain that at least on his part there was animosity between them. He had not spared her feelings in front of Ted Trembath’s wedding guests. He was proud and haughty and Clem despised him for it. His heart ached for Kerensa. Pengarron was a man who could make others suffer. He had better not hurt her, or he’ll have me to contend with, Clem vowed angrily.

He gazed up through the still black branches at the winking stars. What had happened? What had changed Oliver Pengarron from a man who openly adored his wife to one who treated her with shameless rudeness in public? There had been no gossip that trouble was brewing. Like Alice, Clem’s first assumption was that Oliver was having an affair; it was the easiest thing to believe but Clem grudgingly thought it unlikely.

The stars, silvery and twinkling, gave him no clue. He closed his eyes to dig deeper into his mind, unaware of the gurgling river and intense cold penetrating his bones. If the situation was really bad then Kerensa would turn to him, he was confident of that. It was what he had waited for for eight long years, and he wallowed in the warm, beautiful memories of the times he had held her, comforted her, tenderly kissed her and of the time he had nearly totally possessed her.