Maggie’s straight white teeth picked at her lower lip before she said, ‘Perhaps I could get you some tablets for your headache.’

Kitty shook her head. ‘No, I’ll be all right. I’d just like to rest on my own for a while if you don’t mind.’

‘Very well.’ Maggie stared at her worriedly. This wasn’t like Kitty at all. ‘Give me a shout if you need anything and I’ll pop up later to see if you’re feeling well enough to come down for lunch. Meantime, try and eat some of that toast. You need to keep your strength up.’

Kitty suddenly thought that she sounded like Sunday, who had used to say that to her back at Treetops. You must keep your strength up, you’re a growing girl! It all seemed so long ago now and finally Kitty realised what she had lost. Sunday and Tom had loved her – really loved her – and treated her as their own. She had turned her back on the people who had brought her up without a second thought, sure that she would find what she had always dreamed of with her birth mother. But the woman had never shown her an ounce of love or affection from the day she had stepped through the door. And now it was too late to rewind the clock.

Just the thought of the photographs that were in Richard’s possession made Kitty break out in a cold sweat. Were they ever to become public she would be ruined and no decent man would ever look at her again. She was no better than a common whore, and it was all thanks to Richard Fitzherbert. He was cruel and treacherous. Even so she still loved him and had a feeling that she always would, no matter how low he made her sink. He was like a drug to her and she couldn’t bear the thought of being without him.

When Maggie left, Kitty sat at the window for a long time, staring sightlessly down at Arthur at work in the garden. A knock on the door aroused her, and Maggie poked her head around it, saying tightly, ‘It’s Mr Fitzherbert – for you. I’ve put him in the parlour. Do you want me to help you get dressed before you go down?’

‘Err, no, I’ll be fine like this. Thank you, Maggie.’

Maggie left and Kitty stared in dismay at herself in the mirror. Her hair was wild and her eyes were red and puffy, but then what did it matter? Richard had probably come to tell her that he didn’t wish to see her again so she might just as well go down and get it over with.

She met Miss Fox on the landing, and the older woman stared at her disapprovingly. ‘You’re surely not going to receive a gentleman caller dressed like that, are you? It’s not proper, and what’s more, you look as if you’ve been pulled through a hedge backwards.’

‘I shall only be seeing him for a few minutes.’ Kitty shot past her and raced down the stairs as the woman muttered to herself before going on her way.