Mary giggled. ‘Oh, I confess to being perfectly shattered, sir – what with one thing and another – if the thought of that pleases you. I meant more that I do not feel quite respectable.’ She sat up too and, though it was a bit late for modesty, pulled at her nightgown, which had drifted way past her shoulders. ‘Can it really be true’ – she fiddled with the ribbon up close to her throat – ‘that all it takes is for that peculiar blacksmith to bang at some metal and—’

Ned tipped his head back and guffawed. ‘What a ridiculous nonsense it was! And how very pleased the man was with his own great performance.’

‘He might have washed his hands first,’ Mary grumbled. ‘Of course, I chose to wear my best pink for “my wedding” – such as it was – and now it’s covered in smuts and my gloves are quite ruined.’

‘Oh, my love, what have we done?’ Though the facts of the past days were frankly appalling, still he was only amused. ‘Can you believe it? Running away in the night! Careering by coach to this wild, foreign country! Do you know, I do believe I have actually slept with your maid …’

Mary shrieked. ‘She guards me like Cerberus!’

‘And to top it all off, we said our vows in a forge, of all things.’ At last, he became serious. ‘I am sorry, my darling. You deserve so much more.’

‘Believe me, I want for nothing.’ She sighed happily as she laid her head on his chest. ‘For I am now Mrs Ned Knight of Chawton Great House! And I cannot wait until we at last cross that threshold.’

‘One other stop first, my love.’

Mary flung her head round and stared at him. Though she could envisage a time at which his habit of scheming without previously sharing the details might yet prove irksome, now she could only marvel. This expedition must already have taken some weeks in the planning, and there was more?

‘My brother William has agreed to marry us properly – in the Steventon church where my dear Grandfather Austen was once the well-beloved rector. So much of our history has been played out in that dear place. My Aunt Jane was baptised in its font.’

‘A credential indeed!’ And how delightful the thought that Mary was now a part of such an extraordinary family.

‘So, charming though this sojourn may be’ – he waved his arm around the dark, gloomy room – ‘we must get there post-haste. Your father is quite likely to attempt some legal challenge to a Scottish marriage – do not worry!’ He pressed a finger to her lips before she could protest. ‘He cannot. But still, knowing him, he might try.

‘I shall not rest until the moment when we can repeat our vows before God – whom even Sir Edward must accept as a much higher power.’