Phipps had dropped me at the station as I had expected to be away for a while. I thought of telephoning Eynsleigh and asking to be picked up, but it was still a glorious day so I decided to walk. Hazelnuts were thick on the trees beside the lane. I made a mental note to come and pick some. Cows and horses peered at me over gates. Sheep regarded me suspiciously and moved away. I came into the village, down the one main street, passing the Queen’s Head pub, the baker’s, the newsagents, the greengrocer and butcher. Women out doing their shopping nodded to me. One said “Lovely day, isn’t it, your ladyship?” and I agreed that it was. From the village school came the chant of children learning their four times table. “Four fours are sixteen. Five fours are twenty. . . .”

It wasn’t such a bad place to be, I told myself. I would learn to get used to life here. I’d join the ladies’ guild at the church or help with the Girl Guides or the pony club. Then a few unbidden images formed in my head. Me being asked to iron the church altar cloths, polish the chalices, do the flowers . . . or show the Girl Guides how to tie knots. . . . Golly, I’d be hopeless. But I’d be all right with the pony club. I did know a bit about horses. And I’d learn the names of the children in the village school and invite them to Eynsleigh where Darcy could play Father Christmas. That was the sort of thing the owners of the big house had to do. I had bucked up a lot by the time I passed between the tall stone gateposts, each topped with a lion with its foot on a ball, and started to walk up the drive. The gravel road was lined with plane trees and at the end of it lay the rambling Tudor mansion. Its red brick glowed in the rays of the setting sun and smoke rose from its curly chimneys that were etched against a perfectly duck-egg-blue sky. Rooks cawed as they flew home for the night in a big elm tree. It was a scene of peace and contentment and I gave a little sigh.

“My house,” I whispered to myself. “This is my house. My home now.”

I started to walk up the drive and suddenly realized how hot and tired I was. The day was warm for October and the small suitcase now suddenly seemed to weigh a ton. I thought about leaving it and sending one of the servants to fetch it for me, but I didn’t want to admit any weakness to them so I gritted my teeth and marched on, sweating now under my tweed jacket.