‘You’ll miss him if he decides to go away again.’

‘If that happens it will be the end of Creek Hall. He’d almost certainly have to sell it and who knows what would happen then? I wouldn’t want it to get into the hands of Squire Tattersall.’

‘You’re the second person who’s led me to think that the squire isn’t a good man.’

‘I can only repeat what I’ve heard, but apparently he’s ruthless in business and shows no mercy as a magistrate. His poor wife died young, and they say that he drove her to an early death, but I wouldn’t know about that. All I do know is that he’s a bad landlord and his tenants live in fear of him.’

‘Well, I don’t think I want to meet the squire. I’ll take care to avoid him.’

‘Very wise, miss.’ Mrs Bee walked over to the window and peered out into the darkness. ‘I thought I heard the rumble of wheels. The doctor is waiting for you. Best hurry, miss. The snow seems to be falling faster.’

Nick was waiting to help her on to the driver’s seat and he wrapped the rug round her knees. ‘I’m sorry we’ve had to cut the evening short, but we’ll do this again when the weather improves.’

Daisy unfurled the umbrella and held it over him while he climbed up to sit beside her. ‘I look forward to it. I think I’m falling under Creek Hall’s spell even now.’

‘Walk on.’ He tapped the horse gently with the tip of the whip. ‘The old house does that to people. I can remember visitors coming when I was a child, and some of them stayed on for days, if not weeks. There were people around all the time and the place was alive. Now it feels as though it’s sleeping, but I don’t want it to slip away from me.’

‘You talk about the hall as if it were a living entity.’

‘Do I? I didn’t realise I was so fanciful. I suppose everyone feels like that about their childhood home, especially when it was a happy one. What about you, Daisy? What made you leave London and come to live in the wilds of Essex?’

‘A broken engagement.’ She had not meant to tell anyone outside the family, but Nick was different and he invited confidences.

‘I’m sorry. Do you want to talk about it?’

‘Not really. Julian is the elder son of the Carrington family and I was employed as governess to his younger brother. I don’t know how it happened, but Julian and I fell in love. He asked me to marry him, but he wanted to keep our engagement a secret until his twenty-first birthday.’

‘His parents might have objected?’

‘Yes, they would, although it didn’t come to that. Julian wrote to me from Oxford, telling me that he’d been offered a job in the diplomatic service in Paris, and was leaving immediately.’

‘I don’t see why that would matter. In fact, it would seem ideal for a young married couple to set up home far away from the disapproving family.’