“It is good to have you close by, Amy,” Mother said, squeezing my hand. She waited for Anna to echo the sentiment but my sister stopped instead to breathe in the scent of a briar rose growing against the barn wall, and pretended not to hear. Mother sighed.

“I hope,” she continued, “that we will see you at Stansfield Manor—and perhaps even at Sawston?”

I doubted that Robert would ever consent to visit Antony and Anna, and given that she had not invited us—anyway I thought it wise to give a politician’s answer and a polite smile.

“Perhaps,” I said.

“Anna is expecting a child,” Mother said, almost desperately. “Perhaps you will stand sponsor to it?”

My eyes met Anna’s in a moment of surprising unity. Both of us deplored Mother’s attempts to make us like each other more than we were able. At a distance it was entirely possible; we wrote politely to one another but had no desire to be more intimate. Thus it was sometimes with siblings. I loved Arthur but I could not love Anna.

“I congratulate you,” I said to my sister, suppressing a stab of envy. Robert and I had been wed a year now and I had not yet conceived.

Anna cast down her gaze. “It is early days yet. I pray this one will go full term.”

“Amen to that.” On such a subject we could be in easy agreement, knowing how infinitely dangerous and difficult such matters could be.

“You should not ride back,” I said impulsively. “It cannot be good for you. Take our carriage.”

Mother looked gratified but Anna shook her head. “The roads are too bad,” she said. “I’d rather ride.”

I was still feeling affronted that night as Robert and I lay in bed together. I told him of the visit and complained how little Anna liked me. “Darling Amy,” Robert said, pulling the neck of my nightgown down, kissing my bare shoulder, “how could anyone dislike you? Your sister is but sour and ugly and envious. Pay no heed.”

I giggled. “Robert,” I said, playfully pushing away his hands to encourage him all the more, “Anna is with child. Now for that I do envy her.”

Robert laughed. “There’s an easy remedy for that, sweetheart,” he said. He rolled me beneath him. “We try...” His lips brushed my ear, then moved down the line of my throat, “and if at first we do not succeed, we keep trying. How does that suit you?”

“It suits me well,” I admitted.

Robert’s hands were moving over my body now and my skin was damp and my heart was pounding with the pleasure of it. I forgot everything. I forgot about Anna. I forgot to ask for the favour for Antony Huddleston. I never thought on it again.

9

Lizzie: Present Day

Lizzie worked herself hard in rehearsal that day. Partly it was to distract herself from thinking about Johnny Robsart—and Arthur. She still couldn’t get hold of Dudley and felt as though she was letting him down, but what could she do if he didn’t answer his phone? She could hardly go around to his flat, not without sparking a whole load more speculation. But the anxiety gnawed away at her so she focussed it all into the practice. Even Alessandro, her professional dance partner, who was a perfectionist, brought her a bottle of water and an energy bar after she had spent nine hours and skipped lunch to practise her steps for the jive.