Martha made valiant efforts to turn the trap around in the lane, but Esther was upon them before she could do so. She grasped the side of the trap and shook it, making it rock precariously.

The two women screamed in terror, but Esther’s frenzy had driven all sense and reason from her mind. All the fury she had held against these two women for years was unleashed.

If it had not been for Jonathan reaching her at that moment, she would have tipped the trap over on to its side, throwing the two women into the road and undoubtedly causing them physical harm. He took hold of her, pinning her arms to her sides so that she struggled and kicked against him and continued to mouth insults at the two women, but no longer could she hurt them.

Jonathan raised his normally quiet voice above Esther’s screeching. ‘Go, Mrs Willoughby, just go!’

Martha, red and flustered, scrabbled in the bottom of the trap for the reins and sat up. She cast one anxious look back at Esther and then flicked the reins and the pony moved forward. As the trap moved off down the lane, the two women stared back at Esther, fear in their eyes.

As if to confirm that there was reason for the trepidation on their faces, Esther yelled after them, ‘I’m not finished with you two old biddies yet. You’ll pay for this day, Martha Willoughby!’

He took her back to the farmhouse and into the kitchen. He made her sit down near the range whilst he poured her a strong cup of tea from the pot on the hob.

Esther was still shaking with rage and now with fear, as the realization overwhelmed her. She moaned and closed her eyes and rolled her head from side to side. ‘Don’t go. Please, don’t go!’

He knelt in front of her and took hold of her hands. ‘My darling – I must. But I want you to remember that wherever I am, I shall be loving you still. If we never meet again . . .’

Her cry of anguish broke into his words, but he stroked her hair and held her even closer, comforting her as he might a child. ‘If we never meet again,’ he repeated bravely, ‘our love will last for ever.’

‘I love you, I want us to be together. Don’t go back. I’m begging you!’ Her tears flowed, and she clung to him. ‘Don’t leave me, I can’t bear it.’

He eased himself back from her clinging arms and gently held her tear-streaked face between his hands, forcing her to look at him. He brushed the strands of hair, wet with her tears, from her eyes.

His own sorrow and his heartache for her misery filled his eyes with compassion. ‘My own dear love, my only love, you don’t mean it . . .’

‘I do, I do!’ she sobbed wildly.