“No, it will not kill her,” Lord Lynche said, as if he had not heard her and was following his own train of thought, “but I think she will kill me. How will she be able to face moving away from The Castle, going somewhere strange and being poor? She has always had everything. Do you realise what it will mean to her to have to give up her comfort, her servants and in fact the whole Kingdom that she has ruled over so effectively for over half a century?”

“I think that, instead of worrying about all these things,” Carina said, “we should go back now. You have to face her – you have to tell her.”

“No, I am not going to do that,” Lord Lynche said suddenly. “I am going to wait until I have seen my lawyer. I am going to hope against all hope that there is something left, some property not accounted for.”

“What time is he likely to arrive?” Carina asked.

“I don’t see how he can be here before dinner, if then,” Lord Lynche answered. “But in the meantime I have to behave as a gentleman should, keeping a stiff upper lip, pretending to those people who call themselves my friends that it does not matter. My God, if they only knew!”

“Is that why you asked Dipa and me to come with you this morning?” Carina asked. “Because in front of us you don’t have to pretend and we are the only people in The Castle who don’t come under the heading of being called your friends?”

She spoke without bitterness and he looked at her sombrely.

“You are clever,” he answered. “That is exactly why I did ask you. I had to tell someone what had happened and there was no one else.”

“I hope we have behaved adequately,” Carina said and now there was a little edge of irony in her voice.

“I did not mean that,” Lord Lynche said quickly. “You know I did not mean it. You have been amazingly kind. I could not have believed that anyone could be so understanding. You might have jeered and laughed at me and told me that it was my own fault, which indeed it is. You might have taken your revenge for the way I have treated you, but instead you have been – ”

He put out his hand towards her.

“– how shall I say it – an angel of mercy?”

“No,” she answered, “just a good housekeeper. And now, like a good housekeeper, I intend to wash up the things we have used.”

“Oh, there is no need to do that,” Lord Lynche said. “I will leave a note for Mrs. Hobman, telling her that we have used the kitchen and taken some of her market wares, otherwise she might think thieves have broken in.”