‘Perry?’ She shook her head. ‘I wouldn’t call him a friend, exactly. I knew him before we went to India. He did his pupillage at my father’s chambers and became a fully fledged barrister before we left the country. He’s done well for himself.’

‘He seems to like you, miss,’ Jenny said shyly. ‘I think he’s ever so good-looking.’

‘I suppose he is.’ Kate found herself comparing Perry’s English good looks with Ashok’s dark handsomeness, and she sighed.

‘I suppose he’s very rich, like your family, miss.’

Kate was about to deny their affluence, and then she recalled the narrow lanes and alleys surrounding Clare Market, and the poverty she had seen on the way home from the docks. For once, she had nothing to say. Even so, the ragged adults and undernourished children scrabbling about beneath the costermongers’ barrows for scraps of food was something she would find hard to forget. The horrors of the uprising seemed like another world, but London was her home, and she found herself unprepared for the reality she now faced. It seemed impossible that she had grown up in the city without ever noticing the huge differences between those who had money and those who had next to nothing. She returned home knowing that her life had changed inexorably.

When Kate awakened each morning in her comfortable bed, she knew that today would be exactly the same as the one that had just passed. She was restless and desperate for news from Delhi. She accosted the postman every day, but the letter she longed for did not arrive, and she had no idea whether Ash was alive or dead. For all she knew, if he had survived the battles, he might now be languishing in some military hospital, badly wounded and fighting for his life.

The newspapers were filled with lurid accounts of the atrocities on both sides, but Kate dared not allow herself to imagine how she would feel if she learned that Ash had been killed in action. They might never meet again, but she would like to think of him living a long and happy life.

As for herself, Kate knew that she must do something to fill the void created by their separation. She toyed with the idea of seeking employment, but the professions were male dominated, and young women from well-to-do families were expected to remain dutifully at home until they married. Kate was aware that most parents went out of their way to introduce their unmarried daughters to suitable young men, but her father had his sights set firmly on becoming a High Court judge and was rarely at home. Her mother had met up with old friends who were avid fund raisers for a new lead roof on their local church and other worthy charities, and she spent most afternoons at meetings or taking tea with like-minded ladies.