Rupert sighed. ‘Yes, I’m sorry, of course you would.’

The day that Kitty and Justin were to have married came and went. Everyone remembered it, but no one mentioned it except for Amabel. She still took most of her meals in her room, but on this occasion she had come down for luncheon.

There had been little talk during the meal when she sudden announced, ‘Today is Justin’s wedding day. Poor Kitty.’

Poor Kitty indeed. Rupert had been over to Marwick House to see her a couple of times. Neither time had she seen him alone, but knowing what his own father was suggesting and what Sir James had hinted at the funeral, he was disappointed that they had no opportunity for private conversation. He wanted to know if the outrageous suggestion that he should now marry Kitty in his brother’s place had actually been made to her.

‘It would have been a lovely wedding,’ Amabel went on, entirely unaware of the effect her words were having on the rest of the family. ‘Poor dear Justin. Everything was arranged. And they’d have had babies, wouldn’t they?’ Her voice broke on a sob.

‘Now then, Mama,’ Fran said quietly, taking her hand. ‘You mustn’t distress yourself so. We all miss Justin, but we have to look forward now. Rupert’s here to look after Pilgrim’s Oak.’

‘Then he must have babies,’ whimpered her mother.

Nothing more was said at the table. Frances took her mother back up to her parlour and settled her down for an afternoon nap, but her words could not be unsaid and now stood between Rupert and his family. Rupert knew that it was his duty to step into Justin’s place as his father’s heir, and he knew he would stay, but if they wanted a new generation, they must accept his marriage to Hélène.

That night, despite having heard nothing from Hélène since her first letter, Rupert retired upstairs and wrote to her again. He poured out his heart to her, telling her how much he missed her and asking her to write to him very soon.

I miss you every minute of every day, he wrote. Write to me soon, my darling girl, and tell me news of your family and Belair.

This time he addressed the letter to her at Belair, for surely they must have returned from Paris by now. He thought of her, back in the social circle in St Etienne, and the fear began to grow that she had become so involved in the social life there that she had started to forget him. Perhaps Simon Barnier had begun to court her. The thought made him go cold but he dismissed it at once. Hélène didn’t even like Simon Barnier.

Remember how much I love you, darling girl, and send me a letter bringing me your love.

Your Rupert

This he added as a postscript to his letter before sealing it into its envelope.

In the morning he put it in the postbag to go to the post office. Today it would be on its way to St Etienne, and surely Hélène would reply. With a lighter heart he went out to the stable.