‘The owl had to have its leg set and one wing pinned, and though the vet thought Adam had done a spectacular job on the smashed beak he didn’t think it would pull through. Anyway, against all the odds Mr Brown, as we called him, survived – and so did I. I had no idea till then what tight regulations there are about keeping wild birds in captivity. We had to get a special certificate from the vet to show Defra, to say Mr Brown couldn’t have survived if we’d let him loose. He still can’t fly well enough to hunt properly though he can flutter up to a low branch. Adam gave him to me as a birthday present. Lots of people have wanted to buy him since, but luckily I’m restricted from selling him – not that I’d ever do that anyway because I’ll never, ever part with him. The day after he came to us, I had my head shaved properly and when the treatment was finished my hair grew back in, just as I’d been promised it would. And Mr Brown’s feathers grew in too. He’s a very handsome person now. Sometimes I take him round with me – he loves the car – and sometimes he stays with Adam, but mostly he lives in his own aviary at my parents’ house and he’s extremely tame. He’ll ride about on my shoulder when I’m at home provided I’ve got something padded on – owl claws are very sharp – and I can put my finger in his beak and he’ll nuzzle it but never peck. I dread anything happening to him. He’s still in very good shape but he’s eleven now, which is quite old even for an owl in captivity – in the wild, seven would be a goodish age. He’s my icon of recovery.’

Louisa stopped reading and again there was silence in the room, but this time, unlike the response that Stanley had elicited, it was a friendly, encouraging silence.

‘I’m afraid it’s a bit disjointed,’ she said apologetically, ‘a bit of a jumble really.’

‘I told you we weren’t looking for polished work,’ said Catherine. ‘The point is that you had us on the edge of our seats, and I have a feeling it was important for you too.’

‘Yes.’ Louisa nodded. ‘What Marnie wrote about life being a gift, something we should never take liberties with, that really rang a bell for me. I learned that lesson too, though in very different circumstances from hers.’