‘She sounds like a kind lady,’ he said, then hurriedly asked: ‘How old were you, when Millicent came to us?’

‘Thirteen.’

Charlotte coughed. ‘John, I’ve been telling Millicent about Silas helping you rebuild the dam.’

‘The dam? Oh, that dam. No, no. We’re not starting on that just yet. Of course, there will be a new Bradfield reservoir, perhaps not on the exact same location because, you see, we have identified an issue with subsidence. An underground spring. Nature set a trap for us and in we tumbled.’ He shut off the flow of words like a tap. He could feel Louisa’s gaze on him and spoke to the coals in the scuttle by his side. ‘Silas has been working on Agden, and learning some engineering. He has proved to be a very able young man and my wife holds him in high regard.’

‘I do.’

‘As do I, of course. We shall miss him.’ He took another bite from the breadcake and swallowed painfully. ‘We should be leaving shortly, for the train.’

‘He’s a good boy, there’s no doubt,’ said Millicent.

‘You’re all talkin’ about me,’ said Silas, ‘as if I’m not ’ere.’

‘Well, tha won’t be soon,’ said Louisa, ‘and then we can gab about thee as much as we like. Fancy that, the boy that ran away from ’ome then got his heart broke and decided to run off again.’

‘Louisa! Silas has suffered a bereavement,’ said Millicent. ‘He has to return home.’

‘Home’s ’ere now,’ said Louisa.

‘What’s this runaway rubbish!’ Silas said, but he was laughing, and Louisa buried her head in his shoulder. The dog padded over and laid its head on Charlotte’s dress. She patted it absently. Gunson smiled at the scene before him. Why could it not have been Louisa that Silas wanted, why had it to be this Simpson woman? The boy could have saved himself a flogging.

‘I should like to see your part of the world,’ said Charlotte. ‘If I can ever drag my husband from his office we should love to pay you a visit.’ She gave Gunson a cool look. ‘Perhaps when you retire, John? Should such a day ever come?’

She was punishing him for speaking harshly to her before they left the house. She had caught him off guard, springing on him the news that one of her lady friends had found the perfect retreat for them, a house with generous grounds overlooking Walkley’s green and rolling hills, four miles or more above the basin in which the town sat, and featuring a dedicated music room. He had been forced to warn her that he must delay their retirement to the countryside by many years if he was to meet his obligations to the company. ‘You are not obligated, John,’ she had replied, with more scorn than he was anticipating, ‘When will you admit that you are now obsessed by this desire to rebuild the dam?’ He had replied forcefully, hissing into her startled face when Silas turned his back to stow his valise in the carriage. She was a typically hysterical woman who knew nothing of his motivations, and must anyway comply with his wishes. It was her wifely duty.