‘You can’t do that, Daisy. You can’t live in bachelors’ quarters even if you are sharing rooms with your brother. It’s not the done thing, my dear.’

‘I can’t see that it would matter to anyone but you and Uncle Sidney, and you know I wouldn’t do anything to disgrace the family name. No, Aunt, my mind is made up. I need to get a job and London is the place I know best. Perhaps I can train as a nurse, or even a doctor. I seem to have a leaning for that sort of work.’

Eleanora uttered a faint shriek. ‘A doctor? Heaven help us – women can’t be doctors, Daisy. It’s against nature and I don’t really approve of nursing, although it is a little more respectable now, thanks to Miss Nightingale, but there are no women doctors.’

‘I think you’re wrong there, Aunt. There’s Elizabeth Blackwell, who qualified as a doctor in America. I read about her in the newspaper when she visited London a few years ago. Times are changing and we have to change with them or be left behind.’

‘I think you’d be heading for a dreadful disappointment, Daisy. Consider the squire’s offer. You would be a lady with a beautiful home and a carriage at your disposal.’

‘I’d rather die than marry that man. Everything you say makes me even more determined to make my own way in life. I’m sorry, Aunt, I love you and Uncle Sidney dearly, but I am not going to be swayed in this. I’m going back to London.’

Chapter Twelve

It was an easy decision to make in the circumstances, but there were things that Daisy had to do before she left Little Creek. The first was to ensure that Jack’s parents were well enough to take care of him at home. Later that morning, accompanied by Linnet, Daisy called on the Fox family. She was pleasantly surprised to find Mary Fox up and about, and doing her chores in an effort to make the dilapidated cottage into a comfortable home. There was no sign of Lemuel, which was a relief as his glowering presence made Daisy feel ill at ease.

‘Of course I want my boy home,’ Mary said eagerly. ‘I’m much better now, thanks to the medicine that Dr Neville gave me before he went up to London. I hope he comes back soon because we need him here.’

‘Miss Marshall is going to London to train as a nurse.’ Linnet beamed at Daisy. ‘She’ll come back to Little Creek and look after us all.’

‘I don’t know about that,’ Daisy said hastily. ‘I might not get accepted as a probationer.’

Linnet shook her head. ‘There’s no doubt in my mind, miss. You’re clever and you’ve got learning. I can read and write and add up sums, but that’s an end to it. Jay is the clever one in our family, even if he did go wrong.’

‘We don’t talk about him, even when your pa isn’t around, Linnet.’ Mary shot an anxious glance over her shoulder, as if expecting to see her husband standing behind her. ‘You know how he disgraced the family, even though I have to say he’s a good boy at heart.’