Kate filled their glasses and one for herself. She was gambling on her powers of persuasion, but she was almost certain that the vicar would see things from her point of view.

Kate’s strategy worked. Without undue pressure from his wife, Humphrey Courtney agreed that to give Ted Harris a second chance was the Christian thing to do. The cottage was available and it would be better to have tenants installed right away so that the property did not fall into disrepair during the winter months. Ivy was ecstatic and the children were bubbling over with excitement when Kate accompanied the family to visit their prospective home. Ted was less forthcoming, but he nodded and said that ‘it would do nicely’, and Kate took this as the best she could expect from a man who kept his inner feelings to himself.

Chapter Nineteen

Ivy, Ted and the children moved into Marsh Cottage in the middle of January. Ivy had insisted on giving it a thorough spring clean before they took residence and, with Jenny and Kate’s help, they had the place spotless, warm and welcoming. Ivy was to continue working at Warren House, and Morrison was only too happy to have a strong man like Ted to assist him, especially during the long winter months when the old man’s rheumatics were most painful. The older children attended the village school, and Ivy continued to bring Charlie and baby John to the house, where Tilly clearly doted on both of them.

Hedley and Jenny saw each other as much as possible, despite opposition from Elaine, but Kate’s meeting with the vicar had proved successful, and Humphrey raised no objections to his son’s return to duty or his relationship with a servant girl. Hedley had to make several trips to London where he underwent rigorous tests to ensure that he was fit to return to duty, and at the beginning of February he received orders to join his new regiment in Delhi. There was not enough time for the banns to be read and Hedley, with a degree of purpose that Kate could not have imagined he possessed, had attended Doctors’ Commons to get a special licence.