At last he put her gently away from him, saying, ‘I’m sorry.’

‘Don’t be,’ she said. ‘Just remember I’ll always be here.’

Rupert looked down into her eyes and despite his great sorrow found he was smiling, smiling through his tears. ‘I love you, Hélène,’ he said.

‘And I love you, Rupert.’

He pulled her back into his arms, holding her close against him. ‘It’s not the time to ask,’ he said into her hair, ‘but will you marry me?’

She reached up a hand and touched his cheek. ‘Of course I will.’

At that moment the door opened and Rosalie came into the room. ‘Hélène,’ she said, ‘what are you doing in here?’ As she saw her daughter still standing within the circle of Rupert’s arms, she went on, ‘Well, I can see, but it is most unseemly of you.’

Hélène stayed where she was, safe with Rupert, and said, ‘Rupert has just learned that his brother has been killed in an accident, Maman.’

‘That is very sad news,’ replied her mother, ‘but it is a good thing that it was I and not one of the servants who found you like this. You should not be shut away, alone, with an unmarried man. If there was news of this, your reputation—’

‘My reputation is quite safe, Maman,’ Hélène interrupted. ‘Rupert and I have just become engaged, so it must be perfectly proper for me to comfort him in his distress at this dreadful news.’

‘Engaged!’ Rosalie latched on to that word, hearing little of the others. ‘With no reference to your father… or to me?’

‘Papa has already given Rupert permission to address me…’

‘But not for a formal betrothal…’

‘It is quite decided between us, Maman,’ Hélène said, glancing up at Rupert with a shy smile. ‘Is it not, Rupert?’

‘Quite decided,’ echoed Rupert. He stepped away from Hélène and said, ‘I hope you do not completely disapprove, madame.’

Rosalie looked flustered, but at last came back to the news brought by the telegram. ‘But with this news of your brother, surely this is hardly the time…’

‘It is just the time, madame,’ Rupert asserted. ‘I shall have to return to England at once. My family needs me there, and there will be much to arrange, but I shall come back as soon as I may to claim Hélène and take her to Pilgrim’s Oak.’

‘Pilgrim’s Oak?’

‘My family home, madame.’

‘This is not at all as it should be,’ Rosalie tried again, but she recognised in her daughter’s expression the look of determination that had carried her through the dark days of the siege. ‘I don’t know what your father will say.’

‘I hope he will give me his blessing,’ Hélène said. ‘But whether he does or not, I shall consider myself engaged to Rupert and will wait for his return, however long he’s needed in England.’

*

The news of Justin’s death was quickly spread below stairs.

‘Pierre says it means that Mr Rupert is now the heir,’ Annette told Agathe. ‘He will be Sir Rupert one day, and Hélène will be Lady Chalfont.’