At a point when Alice was worried Clem’s feeling for Kerensa would grow out of control and take him further away from her, he was showing for the first time a real desire for her. He had even declared that he loved her. A burst of joy flowed out from her inner being and engulfed her mind. Whatever part of Clem remained Kerensa’s for ever, the rest of him was hers! He could have chosen to turn to drink, to entrench himself in the farm, even to turn to another woman, or women, to make up for losing Kerensa, but he was a strong man, and instead he wanted her, his wife.

Clem moved closer, as if to emphasise he was giving himself to her at last. Nuzzling her neck he tugged open the fastenings down the back of her dress. Alice had wondered what it would be like to be made love to with real ardour. She pressed herself against his strong lean body. For a moment her natural shyness held back the deeper inner needs denied all her married life, then, in a moment of triumph, she swept all her inhibitions away for ever.

They woke at dawn, long before it was time to rise to begin the next day’s work, to make love in the same full, lingering way. When all the others were settled the following night, they rushed laughing like newlyweds to lay out the sacks of straw before the hearth.

Alice changed noticeably over those two days. She was livelier and looked years younger. Even Morley, who thought of little apart from his Maker, his work, the weather and his meals, looked up from the supper table to remark on her sudden rosy glow. Only the worry over Jack, whose condition remained stubbornly unchanged, marred her newfound happiness.

‘Poor little Jack,’ Alice said. ‘He hasn’t had a good time of it these last few months, what with that maid, Heather Bawden, messing him about and now this.’

‘Yes, poor Jack,’ sighed Kerensa. ‘Strange how we still think of him as a boy. It’s good of you to nurse him, Alice. If he does pull through, he’ll be a long time on the mend. I feel so responsible for him, I wish I could bring him back to the manor with me.’