‘Let me prop you up, Jack. You don’t look comfortable.’

‘You’ve been gone for hours,’ he said peevishly. ‘I’ve been here all alone, apart from Ma, who keeps trying to make conversation when I’ve nothing to say. What is there to speak about when I’m stuck here like this?’

Judy peeled off her riding gloves and plumped up the pillows. She could not lift him and she did not try, but she dropped a kiss on his forehead.

‘You can stop being grumpy, and I’ll tell you what Daisy had to say.’

Jack turned his head away. ‘Go on then.’

‘Well, she said she was very sorry to hear about the accident, and she’s going to ride over to see you.’

‘I really don’t feel like seeing anyone. It’s bad enough having my sisters coming round every day.’

‘You should be thankful that people care about you, Jack Fox. If you keep on like this I’ll go away and leave you to sulk.’

He shot her a sideways glance. ‘I’m not sulking.’

‘Well, what do you call it then? I went to see Daisy to ask her advice, because someone has to take charge until you get better, and you will recover, Jack. I refuse to let you sink into a state of depression.’

‘I might never walk again. What sort of man does that make me?’

‘You are still the same Jack Fox that you were before the accident.’

‘I’m as dependent as a baby. I can’t do anything for myself.’

‘That will change in time. Look at my mother: she’s learned to live with her disability. You have every chance of a full recovery, so don’t lie there feeling sorry for yourself. Dr Neville is coming tomorrow and maybe he’ll let you sit up in a chair. If he does, then James could carry you downstairs.’

‘Like a baby,’ Jack said with a wry smile. ‘I’m sorry, Judy. You’ve been working so hard to keep up my spirits. I will try to be a better patient.’

She leaned over to kiss him on the cheek. ‘Just try to be positive, Jack. I’m doing my best.’

Having left him in a slightly better mood, Judy went to her room to change out of her riding habit. She put on a simple grey cotton gown with a starched white collar and cuffs, and brushed her fair hair into a chignon at the nape of her neck. Small tendrils curled around her forehead, as if rebelling against her attempts to tame her thick tresses, but she was not concerned about her appearance, she had work to do. She began with Cook, her old friend and mentor Nell Pearce, and they sat at the long kitchen table, drinking tea and discussing topics as diverse as laundering the kitchen maids’ uniforms, stocking the larder and the cold room, as well as the menus for the coming weeks.

When Judy left the kitchen she went straight to the housekeeper’s office and found Ida Ralston poring over an accounts book. Judy had grown up in awe of Mrs Ralston, but now they discussed the housekeeping duties like equals, although Judy was careful to defer to Ida’s age and experience, and they parted on the best of terms. That left Molesworth, who was getting a bit rheumaticky, but was still eager to show off the contents of the cellar and explain his method of cataloguing the wines, spirits and barrels of ale. His one complaint was that the days of dinner parties and large-scale entertainments were over, and there was little call for his expertise. Judy sensed that he was worried about his future at the manor house and she did her best to assure him that he would not be replaced by a younger man, and that he was virtually indispensable.