It was mid-afternoon when Nick finally arrived, but he looked so pale and tired that Daisy insisted he must eat before she gave him the good news. Mrs Bee ladled soup into a bowl and Hilda sliced bread from one of the loaves she had helped to bake. Nick sat at the kitchen table and was not allowed to move until he had finished his meal, ending with a slice of apple pie made from windfalls that had been collected by the children. Although the orchard was neglected and overgrown, the trees had produced a bumper crop and Judy had helped her mother to peel and core the fruit. Daisy was quietly proud of the way they all worked together, and Hilda’s prosthesis would soon be finished and she would learn to walk again. The outbreak of cholera had been brutal, although in a strange way it had created an extended family that supported each other. The end of the terrible epidemic was in sight, but it was not over yet.

Nick had managed to escape the clutches of the women who were doing their best to look after him and he joined Daisy in the drawing room.

‘You said you have good news. I certainly need something to brighten my day. There was another death in the village. I couldn’t do anything to save the old fellow. He lived in the terrace that the squire refuses to renovate, despite the fact that the cottages are virtually uninhabitable.’

‘The squire has a lot to answer for.’ Daisy took the banker’s draft from the mantelshelf and handed it to him. ‘Mrs Harker gave us this. She wanted to do something to show how much she appreciated the treatment her daughters received.’

Nick sat down, staring at the piece of paper as if he could not believe his eyes. ‘But this is a huge amount.’

‘I know, and you’ll be able to pay off the squire with some to spare.’

‘It should go on improving our facilities here,’ Nick said doubtfully. ‘But it would be wonderful to pay off that bloodsucker.’

‘Mrs Harker is going to raise money for the hospital, and we have a few well-off patrons who pay their way. I think you ought to settle with the squire and be done with it.’

‘You’re right, of course, and it will give me great pleasure to cash this and throw the money in his face.’

‘I wish I could be there to see his reaction,’ Daisy said, laughing.

Nick eyed her seriously. ‘Then come with me. We’ll show him that we’re in this together and he can forget any ideas of trying to bully you into doing what he wants.’

‘I’d love to, but he might take it out on my aunt and uncle. Their lease is due to expire shortly.’

‘I knew Mrs Marshall’s aunt, Miss Featherstone, and she was a very capable woman. I can’t imagine that she would have left her cottage to her niece knowing that the lease was about to expire. I think your uncle ought to demand to see the document.’