Outside she stood in the passage, puzzled.

What did Lady Lynche mean by that? And why did she ask the question?

She could not have heard about Sir Percy or Carina was certain that she would have come straight out with it. It was certainly not the Dowager’s way to dissemble or to find some questions too delicate to be asked.

Then a thought struck her.

Could Lady Lynche possibly be imagining – even for a moment – that she was falling in love with Lord Lynche?

No, it was too ridiculous even to contemplate such an idea!

And yet the question haunted Carina as she went upstairs to the quiet and peace of the nursery.

“Do you, by any chance, fancy yourself in love with anybody?”

Chapter 7

A footman brought in one of the heavy oil lamps.

It made the room seem suddenly full of golden light and dispensed a momentary feeling of depression that Carina had on entering the nursery.

Carina smiled at the footman. He was not one she had seen before, but a young boy who was handling the lamp anxiously.

“It’s beginning to get dark early,” Carina said.

“Yes, the summer’s over, miss,” he answered. “Shall I bring the other lamp now for your bedroom?”

“Yes, please,” Carina replied.

The footman hurried away and he had not been gone a second before Carina heard a raised voice upbraiding him and then Mrs. Barnstaple stepped into the room.

“That dratted footman’s late again,” she said. “I’ve told him to have the lamps up here before sunset. If they can get out of doing their duty, they will.”

“It is hardly dark yet,” Carina said.

“No, but when it’s a grey day you need light,” Mrs. Barnstaple said with irrefutable logic. “Besides I see no reason for you to strain your eyes just so that those lazy good-for-nothing flunkeys can sit with their feet up in the pantry.”

Carina thought this was very unlikely with so many people in The Castle, but she guessed that the laziness of the footmen was one of Mrs. Barnstaple’s pet hobby horses and she let her carry on.

“We should not be having all this fuss over oil lamps,” Mrs. Barnstaple continued, “if his Lordship had his way.”

“What does he want to do, then?” Carina asked.

“Have acetylene gas, of course,” Mrs. Barnstaple said. “I heard as how everyone’s got it these days.”

“Well, certainly in London we had it,” Carina answered, “but most people in the country stick to their old ways and prefer oil lamps. I was surprised to see candles in the hall and in some of the bedrooms.”

“Only in her Ladyship’s room,” Mrs. Barnstaple corrected, “and, of course, in the drawing room. Her Ladyship’s always said that what was good enough for her ancestors is good enough for her. She can’t bear any changes in The Castle!”