‘Oh, my goodness!’ Eleanora sank down on the nearest chair. ‘My heart is beating so fast I can hardly breathe. What was all that about, Daisy?’

‘I thought you had heard most of it, Aunt.’

‘Not everything, dear.’

‘Well, you mustn’t worry. The squire is all bluff and hot air.’

‘It didn’t sound like that, Daisy. What will we do if he refuses to renew the lease? We’ll be homeless.’

‘I think Uncle Sidney ought to consult a solicitor to see if anything can be done, but I have to return to London today. I promised Sister Johnson that I would only take two days off.’

‘Really, Daisy? Do you have to do this? Why can’t you remain at home until you meet some nice young man and get married, like any other well-brought-up young lady?’

Daisy leaned over to kiss her aunt’s soft cheek. ‘Because I want to be useful, and I don’t intend to marry for money. Squire Tattersall thinks he can do what he likes and get away with it – well, it’s time he learned that’s not the case. He only wants me because I’m a challenge.’

‘I suppose you’re right, but money and position can make life a lot more comfortable, my dear girl.’

‘I’ll bear that in mind,’ Daisy said, smiling.

‘Will you stay for luncheon at least? I know Hattie has made a rabbit pie especially for you.’

‘Yes, of course I will, but first there’s something I have to do. I have an urgent errand in the village.’

Daisy had seen her uncle and Lemuel walking downstream with their fishing gear so she knew this was as good a time as any to find Mary on her own. Daisy’s last meeting with Jay’s mother had gone badly, but this time she hoped they might have a more honest conversation. She quickened her pace and arrived at the cottage just as Mary was about to leave.

‘Might I have a minute or two of your time, Mrs Fox?’

Mary glanced up and down the lane, as if expecting her husband to appear. She nodded reluctantly. ‘I have a cleaning job at the church, so I can’t stay long.’

Daisy followed her into the cottage. ‘I’m leaving for London this afternoon, but I needed to speak to you.’

‘If it’s about Jay, I don’t want to know.’

‘It does concern him, and you, too. He went to see the squire.’

Mary’s cheeks paled to ashen and she sat down as if her knees had given way beneath her. ‘Why would he do a thing like that?’

‘He was trying to make things better for you, but I’m afraid it had the opposite effect. The squire told him everything.’

‘Everything?’

‘Jay knows that Lemuel isn’t his father. Squire Tattersall said that you and he were lovers and that he is the father of your eldest child.’

Mary’s blue eyes, so like those of her son, filled with tears. ‘We were not lovers. I was a chambermaid at the manor house and he forced himself on me, not once but several times. I was too frightened to tell anyone.’