Arabella was in the drawing room, seated by an open window, fanning herself energetically. ‘I hate London in the summer,’ she said crossly. ‘The heat and the awful smells make life unendurable, and there are flies everywhere.’

‘Papa is comfortable in his new room. Will you go up and see him?’

‘Yes, but not now. Fellowes is with him and he manages the situation much better than I.’

‘Papa has been very ill. He might have died, so I wouldn’t call it a “situation”.’

‘Well, you’re so clever, miss. You may call it what you like, but I will choose when I visit my husband. He is well cared for and that is the most important thing.’

Kate sensed that there was more beneath her mother’s casual attitude to her husband’s condition than she was saying. ‘Is there something bothering you, Mama?’

‘Sir Jasper came to see me this morning while you were playing the Good Samaritan at the soup kitchen. He told me that he doesn’t think your father’s condition will improve, and it’s quite possible that another such episode might be fatal.’

Kate sank down on a padded footstool. ‘Surely he didn’t use those words, Mama?’

‘It’s what he meant, rather than what he said. I’m not a fool, Kate. I understood him perfectly well.’

‘Doctors can be wrong. With all the love and care that Papa will receive I’m sure he will make a good recovery.’

‘Are you a doctor? No, of course you are not, so don’t make predictions that mean absolutely nothing.’

Her mother’s hurtful words struck Kate like barbed darts, but she forced herself to remain calm. ‘I meant that we will take good care of him, and now he’s at home, surely he will recover more quickly.’

‘You may think you know it all, miss, but the truth is that your father is unlikely to work again, and now Edgar has bequeathed the family fortune to you, including this house, we will probably have to move to somewhere much smaller and in a less salubrious area. You, of course, can afford to live anywhere you wish.’

‘I don’t know what you mean,’ Kate said slowly. ‘Why would you and Papa have to move away? This is your home as well as mine.’

‘You say that now, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you turned this house into a refuge for the disreputable people you feed at your wretched soup kitchen. You’re not a good daughter, Kate. You defy your father’s wishes, and mine. I wouldn’t be surprised if his illness was brought about by you – you ungrateful child.’

Kate stared at her mother in dismay. She had known all along that Mama disapproved of her work, but she had not been prepared for such a vitriolic outpouring.