‘She has so many fine qualities – I am daily enchanted! – that in my experience are rarely to be found together. For example, she has a highly developed, innate sense of right and wrong – one might call it a moral clarity – unusual for a girl of her years. Yet at the same time, her sense of humour is simply delightful! Mary Dorothea is keen to work, pleased to play … Madam, I must say that, as a pupil, she is almost too good to be true.’

Her hair was not golden – more honey from heather – but her complexion was glowing, even on that dark, cold afternoon.

‘And I hope – feel, indeed – that, while Mary Dorothea shows me all due respect as her teacher, she and I still manage to be, truly, very good friends.’

The fact was, Miss Atkinson was uncommonly pretty.

So why on earth had Sir Edward taken her on? Once upon a time, Fanny herself had had a governess who was rather similar – charming and clever and all the rest. Naturally, it ended unpleasantly – does it not always? – and left her poor dear late mama badly shaken. If Fanny were to perform her stepmotherly duties properly, she should keep a good eye on this Miss Atkinson.

But for now, it was time for her afternoon sleep.

CHAPTER XIII

The loss of her first, precious baby almost broke Fanny’s heart. For five long months he had nestled within her: her closest companion; the love of her life. All those spring afternoons, while the family was busy elsewhere, they had lain quietly together, she and her darling: mother and child. Completely contented while the sun poured through the window and filled both with strength.

It had seemed such a happy time, while she was living it. Fanny was back at her beloved Godmersham – Hatch being still uninhabitable – and dear old Cakey, who had been her nurse back when she herself was a child, was tending to her once again, with Marianne’s assistance. The Knatchbull children were scattered around and about the South of England and were all perfectly happy – Fanny knew that from her most assiduous readings of their various guardians’ reports. And so Fanny felt blessed anew, and vastly important: in a sublime state of grace. In her mind’s eye, the small being inside her was born, growing and then grown: his whole future mapped out before him.