‘Indeed,’ he said. Still no smile. ‘I was wondering if we might have a word. In private,’ he added as he caught sight of Audrey stalking across the shop towards them.

‘Of course,’ Pip replied as pleasantly as she could. ‘Is it all right if I just nip out for a moment, Audrey? I won’t be long.’

Audrey looked as though she wanted to say that that would be highly inconvenient but, as there were only the two of them in the shop, was forced to nod her agreement instead.

Pip followed Nicholas out on to the street.

‘How can I help?’ she asked him.

‘Well, the thing is . . .’ he said, his lips pursed so tightly that it must have been hard to speak. ‘Please leave my aunt alone. She is a vulnerable old woman . . .’

Pip’s eyebrows shot up. She could think of plenty of words to describe Evelyn, but vulnerable wasn’t one of them.

‘. . . and she doesn’t need the likes of you preying on her, so I’d take it very kindly if you would stop calling on her.’

He spoke as if he had fallen out of the pages of a Jane Austen novel, and Pip wondered whether this was a preprepared speech rather than his natural choice of words.

‘Has Evelyn asked you to come?’ Pip asked. She thought it highly unlikely, particularly in light of their recent conversation, but she thought she had better check.

‘No,’ admitted Nicholas, ‘but as her next of kin I have to have her best interests in mind.’

Pip was curious. ‘And why, exactly, do you consider me to be not in her best interests?’ she asked, the corner of her mouth curling up into a smirk. ‘What is it that you believe I’ve done?’

Nicholas frowned and looked irritated at her apparent failure to take him seriously. ‘I just think it would be better if you stayed away from her,’ he replied tetchily.

It was obvious that he was very far from his comfort zone, that giving ultimatums to strangers wasn’t something he did every day, and that it might have been funny had Pip not been genuinely concerned about what he was saying.

‘Well, Mr Mountcastle,’ she said firmly. ‘I rather think it’s up to Evelyn who she chooses to spend time with, don’t you?’

‘No, I do not,’ he snapped. His voice was getting louder all the time, and a few people passing by turned their heads to see what was going on. ‘I know your sort,’ he continued. ‘You see an old woman living on her own and you think that if you befriend her there might be something in it for you.’