“And now the hour is upon us. The dark moon has ascended and I have two bright and brilliant souls to offer to the mother gods tonight. So eat, drink and dream, my loves, and I promise you that you will know nothing of what comes next.”

“Mother?”

Suddenly Joseph tried to pull away from Charlotte; she stared at him open-mouthed. The boy hadn’t taken any of the tainted food—she was sure of it—so what on earth was happening? And then she realised the brave little soul was creating a diversion, a chance for them to escape. She let go of his hand as he reached out towards Lady Hartley.

“Mama, is it really you?”

The boy was speaking with a terrible faux-upper-class accent, and yet in her crazed state of mind, it seemed enough to stun Lady Hartley, for she stopped still and stared at Joseph, lifting her arms towards him, her face softening with joy, tears of happiness glittering on her cheeks.

The knife clattered to the floor.

“My darling? My Edward?”

“Joseph, run!” Charlotte shouted, flinging herself at Lady Hartley, catching her enough that they both tumbled to the floor.

In an instant Lady Hartley grabbed for her fallen knife. At the same moment, Anne sprang from her hiding place as Joseph raced past her.

“Bring the others here!” Anne called to him as she ran to Charlotte and was forced to a standstill.

The knife flashed and glinted in the mêlée, and Anne could not tell who had control of it—she was afraid that to lunge into the fight would cause harm to her sister. And yet she must get the knife before it could be used.

“Stop this now!” Liston bellowed as he ran into the room, just at the moment that the madwoman flung Charlotte on to her back and, pinning her to the floor, raised her knife to strike. In the very same split second, Anne grabbed the hilt of Liston’s sword and, dragging it from its sheath, swung it towards Lady Hartley.

“Let my sister go.” Anne levelled the point of the sword at the assailant’s throat.

Lady Hartley turned to look at her. “You do not have the stomach for killing, Anne Brontë,” she said.

“If you believe that, then you have never known the love one sister has for another,” Anne replied. “Do you wish to test it?”

It seemed as if every second were an hour, and then at last Lady Catherine Hartley dropped her knife and climbed to her feet.

“Catherine!” Lord Hartley entered with a half dozen men. He stood staring at the scene that confronted him, disbelief and horror etched across his face. It seemed that he was an inattentive husband indeed. “Dear God, woman, what have you done?”

“Leonard, my dear,” Lady Hartley replied. “I have got myself into a spot of trouble.”