“We have been talking so much,” she replied, “do you realise that we have not yet laid the fire. Will you and Dipa see if you can find some sticks? This is such a magical place that I am sure there will be some in the woodshed outside.”

Immediately Lord Lynche went from the kitchen, but not before Carina had noticed that he did not call Dipa or suggest that the little boy went with him.

Carina found some old newspapers in the cupboard under the stairs and there was also some kindling wood amongst them, so that by the time Lord Lynche came back, she had already lit the fire.

Lord Lynche brought her coal in an ancient rather battered scuttle.

Carina thought, with a little smile, that she dare not show that she knew that this was certainly the first time he had ever carried anything into a kitchen or, she suspected, had been in one.

It took some time to get the fire hot enough to cook the eggs and, when finally she took them straight from the saucepan onto the plates, she was relieved to see that Lord Lynche seemed calmer.

There was only milk to drink, but she knew by the colour of his face and the expression in his eyes that the horror of what had happened the night before was not quite as intense as it had been.

Dipa made conversation while they ate almost impossible because he was chattering all the time with a full mouth about the kittens, asking plaintively if he could have one of his very own.

“Not yet,” Carina replied. “They are not old enough to leave their mother. They would be unhappy and die without her and you would not like that, would you?”

It was hard to make Dipa understand, but having told him that they would come back the next day to see the cats again, he finally condescended to eat a little and drink the milk, although his one idea was to give it all to the cat.

Carina glanced at her watch as they finished.

“Do you realise that it is nearly noon?” she asked. “They will be missing you at The Castle.”

Lord Lynche pushed his plate away from him and put his hands, palm downwards, on the table.

“What am I to say to my mother?” he asked. “If I tell her the truth, it will kill her.”

“Perhaps she is stronger than we think,” Carina suggested a little helplessly.