‘Oliver,’ he told her, smiling back and patting her curls.

‘Oli-ver. Ollie’s quicker.’

‘Oh, I don’t allow anyone to call me that,’ he said, his eyes twinkling at her.

Jessica next peered closely into his face. ‘Your eyes are black, like night-time. Are you old?’

Alice drew in her lips and frowned at her daughter as she attended to Rosie’s ankle but Oliver was happy with the child’s chatter. ‘Some people would think me rather old, others would not,’ he said, tweaking her button nose.

‘As old as my father?’

‘I’m a few years older than him and your mother. Now, Jessica, it is my turn to ask you a question. Where are your brothers, Philip and David?’

‘Oh, they,’ she made a face, ‘they’ve done their jobs and are out playing catch round by the barn. Won’t let me play, they never let me play, but I can beat them at anything!’

Oliver laughed. ‘It’s much the same at my house, young lady. I have two sons and a little girl like you and she gets left out of their games.’

‘Why don’t you bring your maid over here to play with me?’ Jessica asked, intent on rearranging his neckcloth.

Oliver raised his eyebrows. ‘Perhaps one day I will.’

‘Why don’t you get another maid?’ Jessica said, now winding her arms round his neck and leaping up and down on his legs with boundless energy. ‘Mother says she can’t have any more maids. It’s not fair, I won’t never get someone to play with.’

Oliver held Jessica under the arms to prevent her falling off between jumps.

Coming in with an armful of washing, Clem’s face was a picture of horror when he saw his daughter bouncing on the knees of the man he so despised. Bundling the washing into Alice’s arms, he wrenched Jessica away. Jessica did not notice Clem’s rage and wrapped herself round him, kissing his cheek again and again. Clem held her tightly, as though he had snatched her from danger. He watched in tight-lipped silence as Alice put the washing on a chair then passed one of the only two sets of cups and saucers owned in the Trenchard household to his enemy.

‘Thank you, Alice,’ Oliver said, then, quite unruffled, speaking to Clem, ‘I congratulate you on your daughter, Trenchard. She is most charming, like her mother and aunt.’