He took a card from his pocket and scribbled on it. Then he put it down on the table and laid a golden sovereign on top.

He saw Carina look at it and said,

“That will placate any grumbles she may have about extra work.”

Carina picked up her hat and coat and coaxed Dipa away from the cat and her kittens.

As they moved towards the door, Lord Lynche looked around the kitchen and said,

“It’s funny, I don’t think I ever realised how comfortable and, indeed, how comforting a kitchen can be.”

“I don’t suppose you have ever been in one before,” Carina said.

“That is where you are wrong,” he replied. “I used to come here as a child to see my grandmother. The cook always made me special gingerbread children with currants for eyes.

“Oh, I had those too,” Carina said with a little smile. “We must ask your chef to make some for Dipa.”

Even as she spoke, she realised that the chef would no longer be at Lynche Castle and there would be no gingerbread children for Dipa.

She knew that the same thoughts had crossed Lord Lynche’s mind and she felt annoyed with herself for having been so tactless.

Impulsively and without thinking she put out her hand and laid it on his arm.

“Don’t be so unhappy,” she urged. “I feel somehow that something will happen to make it all right and things will not be as bad as you think.”

He put his hand over hers and she felt the hard strength of his fingers.

“Whatever happens,” he said and there was a tone in his voice that she had not heard before, “I shall never forget how kind you have been to me.”

Again it seemed to Carina that there was that strange link between them, a magnetism she could feel pulsating from his fingers to hers.

And then, because she was shy and embarrassed at having touched him, she drew her hand away and hurried along the passage, forcing herself to listen to what Dipa was saying and to answer him coherently.

They rode back to The Castle almost in silence.

It seemed to Carina that they were leaving behind an enchantment of peace and happiness and going forward into the tumult and terror of battle.

The sun was shining, but The Castle looked grey and cheerless. There was no wind and the flag on the turret hung limp and lifeless.

Carina remembered the night she had arrived and how the shuttered windows had given her no welcome and seemed to repel her.

Now it seemed to her that The Castle stood there defiant, almost as if it hated the encroaching beauty around it.

She felt herself shiver as they entered the hall.

Newman took Lord Lynche’s hat, whip and gloves.

Then as Carina turned towards the stairs, Lord Lynche gave her a small bow.

“Thank you, Miss Warner,” he said.