Sir Edward and Fanny had planned to leave it some weeks before they told the children. They were all to be together for Easter in Kent, and that seemed the optimum moment, as the baby was due in the late summer. However, the business was not proving quite as straightforward as Fanny had hoped. Rather than blooming, as was expected, she felt, more often, indifferent and Dr Maton had ordered enforced rest. It was decided that Fanny should immediately return to Godmersham, where she could expect to be well looked after by dear Marianne. And of course, this had to be shared with Miss Atkinson, and Mary Dorothea.

Bearing in mind their particular closeness, Sir Edward was keen to be the one to tell his daughter. He later reported back with some pride that the child had wept tears of happiness and soaked his shoulder quite through. Fanny took Miss Atkinson alone.

‘You asked to see me, madam?’ The governess put her head around the door, smiled prettily, stepped in and then curtseyed.

She really does have the most perfect manner, thought Fanny. Respectful but easy – a combination quite hard to achieve. How remarkably clever of Sir Edward to hire her; what an excellent father he was. She bade Miss Atkinson sit, informed her of the interesting developments which Miss Atkinson politely pretended she did not already know and announced they’d be returning to Kent in the morning.

Somehow, she then felt more should be said: ‘Now, of course, in the coming months – few years, indeed – I cannot see that I will be able to spend quite as much time with Mary as I would like.’

‘Of course, madam,’ Miss Atkinson replied with all possible warmth. ‘You will have your hands full.’

‘Quite so. Therefore, my dear husband and I would like some reassurance that you are happy in this situation and have no intention of leaving us before Mary is “out”.’

‘Madam, I could not be happier. Mary Dorothea is the most excellent pupil, as well as companion.’

As she spoke, Fanny studied Miss Atkinson’s appearance almost for the first time. Why had she not noticed before? It can only be that she had not truly been looking.

‘She has such an interested mind, is so quick to learn and her facility for music has deeply impressed me,’ Miss Atkinson went on.

The governess had about her an elegance rarely seen beyond the best drawing rooms. Her features were fine – her nose, in particular, slender and narrow. There, the skin appeared particularly thin and delicate so that, when she smiled, it stretched across the bridge, creating a flare in the nostril. Fanny could not deny that the whole effect was unusually winning.