‘Oh, am I indeed! I love you, Kerensa. I always thought I could trust you. I believed there was nothing we did not share, that every part of you was a part of me! Now I find that the only person I’ve ever been able to trust completely was Arthur Beswetherick. He was my only real friend, the one person in the whole rotten world I’ve ever been able totally to rely on!’

Oliver was shouting at Kerensa at the top of his voice and his rage was making him shake alarmingly. At first Kerensa had felt nervous at her secret being found out, then guilty, then afraid of losing his love and respect. But now she was angry at his self-pity and it was she who was shouting.

‘Shut up! How dare you go on like this! Arthur Beswetherick is dead and in the past, Oliver. And he couldn’t possibly have been so perfect, no one is. He must have had faults and weaknesses like every other person who has ever lived. You’ve put him on a pedestal, turned him into a folk hero. You can’t expect anyone to be as perfect as the image you insist in keeping hold of. You don’t have to be so angry with me, it was your own father who did the dirty deed in the first place and you don’t know the whole truth of the situation concerning Samuel Drannock or you wouldn’t carry on so! Many, many times I’ve wanted to tell you but it would only have caused you pain!’

‘How?’ Oliver said venomously, furious at her disparagement of the man whose memory he cherished. ‘Forget my father and just you tell me how the truth about the Drannocks would have given me pain.’

‘Oliver, please,’ Kerensa pleaded, taking a gulp of air. She had turned deathly pale and the room swam before her eyes. ‘I wish you would not take it this way… this isn’t easy.’

‘I have no intention of making it easy. Well?’

Kerensa stumbled to the nearest chair, her legs feeling they were about to give way. Oliver followed her, keeping up his piercing glare.

‘First of all we must stop this shouting,’ she said, her voice quivering. ‘It’s a good thing Ameline and Cherry and the children have gone for a walk down by the river.’

He lowered his voice but in no way had his rage abated. ‘Go on, Kerensa, I’m waiting.’

She stayed silent for a few moments, trying to find the words to relate to her husband what his dead half-brother had told her. When Oliver let out a loud impatient sigh she plunged on.