I changed my position and saw Cordelia. She seemed somehow less solid than I had seen her before. I got the impression that it would take weights in her shoes to stop her floating away. She was like a breath that hung in the air in a cold church. I hurried down the rest of the stairs and pushed past John.

‘Come in, come in, you’ll catch your death,’ I muttered and Heron gave me a nod, like we were the grown-ups, as he handed her to me. I had my arm around her and folded her into me. ‘You’ve been wet a week! You’re costing me the last of my towels! Goodness it’s a job you’re not made of sugar.’

I fussed her down the corridor to the kitchen. She made no protest. Her hair was soaking against my cheek and her coat squelched against my arm. As I steered her into the kitchen she stopped and looked at me. ‘Thank you,’ she said, and it was an effort not to let myself down. I could have cried for the sadness in her.

‘You coming in, Heron?’ I asked, over my shoulder.

‘No, I’ll away, thanks love. Leave you to it, eh?’

‘Thanks for Brian,’ I said, looking back at the bulk of him in the doorway. ‘He said you saw Pike off.’

‘Don’t think on it. I’ll be away. Talk to you when you’re settled, eh?’

I left him talking to John. Brought her into the warm and sat her down at what I was starting to think of as her chair. There was tea in the pot and I poured her a mug. She watched me the whole time and for once, I think she would have liked to have offered to help. She just didn’t know any way to contribute.

‘Brian got home safe?’ she asked, all sad and small.

‘Aye. That’s boys for you.’

‘No trouble with Pike?’

‘Seems like it’s done.’

We made small talk as I pottered about. There was so much to talk about and yet it somehow seemed as if there were things that should be left unsaid. I had run from Fairfax’s house like a child. She’d seen Brian save my life and the last I’d seen of her I’d been limping off after him. Where had she been since? Who had frightened her?

‘I phoned my husband,’ she said, out of nowhere.

‘Yes? Is he well?’ I didn’t know what to say so just tried to be polite.

‘I don’t know,’ she said, and she started nibbling the skin around her thumb. She had lovely nails and I almost wanted to tell her to stop it. It was beginning to feel like having a little sister. A little sister who was cleverer than me and prettier than me but who always managed to get me into trouble.