Fanny asked a few questions about visible landmarks which she already knew well, then turned to take in this other elevation and was surprised to discover it had a whole extra storey. This front door, large but essentially plain, opened on to the lower ground floor and offered a discreet vestibule in which one could shed one’s damp, muddy clothing – deposit it all in the boot- or cloakroom – and repair oneself in private before one was received. This was favoured in winter.

Together they entered, took the marble stairs up to the ground floor, stood in the hall, the central point from which all the suites radiated. And there stood the four boys, all in a row.

Poor Norton she already knew and, sadly, he was unchanged by being on home territory. Charles was nine years of age, Wyndham, eight: average-looking fellows, each much of a muchness, who bowed nicely enough. Then the youngest broke with the ranks and rushed up to her skirts.

‘The new mama!’ he cried out in excitement, while burying his face in her pale pink muslin. ‘At last, the mama.’

Fanny put a hand on his fair head, and was overcome with a heady combination of sympathy and terror. This must be the one whose birth had brought on the demise of his mother. Poor little creature. He would need her to love him.

While she quailed at the challenge ahead of her, she lifted his face, said, ‘So I take it you are John?’ Saw his face wet with tears, worried he might have dampened her frock, and added, ‘How lovely to meet you all!’

At which Sir Edward, beaming with satisfaction at her apparently touching performance, bade the nurse take them away and they went on with the tour.

There! That was behind her. No one could accuse her now of not knowing the children. They had all seemed perfectly manageable and, anyway, by the time of the long-distant wedding, would be several years older and closer to adulthood. Fanny felt greatly relieved.

Then she entered the drawing room, and there her heart fell. ‘Oh.’ Indeed, the situation was so extreme Fanny was at a loss as to how she might hide her true feelings.

‘The architecture is simply magnificent.’ This was inarguable. The drawing room was a large – in fact, it was enormous – semi-circle, its floor-to-ceiling windows leading out to a balcony which curved around the extent and provided a height which improved upon the already spectacular views.