Marnie guessed this would be a very unusual honour and was touched. It gave her a warm little glow inside to think that this eccentric and allegedly antisocial elderly bachelor should have found her company so pleasant – and an even warmer glow to know, instinctively, that across the table, Christopher was aware of this too.

Christopher, having finished talking to Jonathan Mercer, had turned to Louisa, but both were unobtrusively watching Marnie while simultaneously conducting an enjoyable and light-hearted conversation with each other.

The moment she had seen Christopher and Marnie standing under the archway holding hands, Louisa had sensed immediately that something must have shifted in their reactions to each other, but was not sure how significant it might be.

It had seemed too good to be true to find Christopher Piper at Glendrochatt just when she so badly wanted a new relationship, and she couldn’t help feeling that it must be fate that had brought this particular man back into her life at this particular moment. She was amazed at how quickly the whole writing group were getting to know each other despite such a short acquaintance. It reminded Louisa of her father’s propagating frame in his greenhouse at home – Glendrochatt was proving a sort of forcing house for relationships, she thought. The group discussions during each session, the shared emotions triggered by individual pieces of writing – these produced an intimacy that would have taken far longer to achieve through ordinary social intercourse. Since their conversation by the burn, she had found herself becoming increasingly intrigued by the American girl and liking her more and more – but she also liked Christopher more and more and was conscious of a little stab of dismay at the idea that Marnie and Christopher might be attracted to each other. It caused Louisa, who was normally blessed with the happy gift of self-confidence, an unusual moment of self-doubt. She saw that the socially diffident Marnie was clearly making a hit with batty old Lord Dunbarnock and, what is more, looking as if she was enjoying his company, which was even more surprising. Louisa recalled an expression from her native Yorkshire – “Nowt so queer as folk” – and there were certainly some rum folk in this place, she thought, looking across the table at the eccentric peer.

‘Marnie seems to be having a good time,’ she said jokingly to Christopher. ‘Americans are suckers for the aristocracy. Perhaps she’s on the lookout for a tame laird?’

‘Perhaps she is,’ said Christopher, amused but not reacting to the tease. ‘Good luck to her. But it certainly looks as if the aristocracy are equally beguiled by the Americans today.’