‘We only have three cases and a carpet bag. I’m sure I could carry most of them on my own.’ Kate leaned over the side and waved. ‘There he is now, and I think he’s found a carriage. We’d best hurry or someone else might snatch it, and I want to get you home as soon as possible, Mama.’

‘Come along, ladies. What are you waiting for?’ Sir Bartholomew shooed them down the steps to the next deck as if he were herding sheep.

Fellowes, Sir Bartholomew’s valet, was guarding the hackney carriage as if it were made of solid gold, but there was considerable competition for its services. The former passengers of the Aldebaran staggered around with a rolling gait, as if the ship’s deck were still beneath their feet, as they sought desperately for transport to take them to their final destination.

‘Get in, Arabella,’ Sir Bartholomew said testily. ‘You, too, Katherine. Don’t dawdle.’

Kate faced him angrily. ‘Can’t you see that Mama is exhausted?’

‘Don’t use that tone with me, miss. You may be twenty-one, but you’re under my jurisdiction until you marry. Then some other man will have the task of keeping you in order.’

Fellowes raised an expressive eyebrow as he helped Kate into the cab, barely allowing Arabella time to settle her voluminous skirts around her.

‘Thank you, Fellowes,’ Kate said loudly. ‘You may sit next to me.’

‘Fellowes will sit up with the driver.’ Sir Bartholomew fixed his servant with a stern gaze.

‘Of course, sir.’ Fellowes closed the door.

Kate cast a worried glance at her mother, who had suffered from chronic malaise during their time in Delhi. The climate in India had not suited her, but perhaps now they were back in London her mother’s health would improve. Kate sat back, gazing out of the window at the mean streets that surrounded the docks as the cabby urged his horse to a brisk trot. When they had left England three years previously, they had sailed from Southampton. Although they had lived in the centre of London at the time, Kate had never been this far into the East End. It was quite shocking to see such poverty, with barefoot children running wild. Feral dogs and cats were slinking around in the shadows, snarling and fighting over the tiniest scrap of food. Kate had seen poverty in India, although she had never been allowed to go out and explore on her own. She suspected that care had been taken to avoid the poorest quarters of the cities she had visited, but she was appalled now to see small, ragged children and the elderly begging on street corners in such terrible weather.