Was this turning into some sort of interrogation? Certainly, Fanny was starting to feel as if she were somehow the enemy, which was grossly unfair. The truth was that of course the governess should have been dismissed on the spot – and Lady Knatchbull was the one who should have carried it out. Instead, Fanny had written to Sir Edward, laid all the blame upon William – his reputation would survive it – and insisted – insisted – that the girls had been thoroughly shielded from all impropriety and at all times. They knew nothing of any illicit relationship! Of course, no lines had been crossed and no innocence compromised! She had then implored that her husband see his way to offering a reprieve, and find it somewhere within his generous heart to keep the governess on.

‘I cannot say, as she was not explicit.’ Fanny was starting to feel very uncomfortable. Was the child always this forthright? Fanny had not got the impression before. The shock of it reinforced the suspicion she had been harbouring that she still did not know Mary Dorothea as well as she ought.

‘Mama.’ Mary sat up at right angles to Fanny and spoke to the wall. ‘I hope you will forgive me if I ask an indelicate question.’

‘Oh. Yes. Of course. Please, dear.’ Dread flooded through her. ‘Do ask me anything.’

‘Thank you, Mama. It is just that there is this word which I have heard much of just lately.’ A turn of the head; a sweet smile. ‘Actually, I do have to confess, I do not even quite understand its full meaning.’ A blink of near-holy innocence. ‘Yet somehow, it nags at me. I sense it may hold a clue to – a key to unlocking – these mysterious events.’

‘Do go on.’

‘Thank you, Mama. You are so very patient. My question is on the subject of your brother, Mr William Knight, and our own dear Miss Atkinson.’

‘Hmm?’

‘Well. Could it possibly be that they have somehow eloped?’

Oh, for shame and dear Lord, those poor girls had borne witness to all of it!

She must write to her husband at once.

CHAPTER XVI

The Atkinson Affair – as she would always privately refer to it – presented Fanny with the first major diplomatic and domestic challenge of her married life and, though it could not have been handled in any other way possible, there came in its wake a great deal of unpleasantness. For the following few weeks, everyone she cared about was thoroughly miserable, and they all laid the blame at her door.

Of course, the greatest casualty of all was poor Miss Atkinson herself, whose frequent letters, telling of heartbreak and wretchedness, punctuated Fanny’s difficult days. It would be impossible not to have sympathy with the lady – her prospects were bleak in every direction. But on the other hand, it was not easy to quell one’s profound irritation that she had been so weak as to get them all into this mess.