Beatrice felt a faint glow of pleasure, thinking that he meant he had wished to see her again, but then he added, ‘I could not pass up the chance to see the black apple trees. They’re as spectacular as ever.’

The pleasure soured in Beatrice’s stomach. Of course he had meant the trees, and not her.

‘I thought you would not mind if I joined the other staff for the ceremony,’ he went on. He paused, then added, ‘Such as it was.’

Beatrice felt her flush deepen. She wondered what he must think of her after that scene, and then felt irritated that she should care about the opinions of a servant at all.

‘Wh-what can I h-help you w-with, M-Mr Sh-Sheppard?’ she asked, her voice coming out a little colder than she’d intended.

He smiled slightly at her tone – a tugging half-grin she recalled from when they were children.

‘When I left Half Moon House I got the impression you were displeased with me,’ he said.

This was true and Beatrice was annoyed that her feelings should have been so obvious. ‘I c-cannot think what g-gave you that im-impression,’ she said, stating the lie as boldly as she could.

He raised an eyebrow. ‘You told me orchids are dull.’

‘S-so they a-are.’

‘Not this one.’

He bent down and picked up the Wardian case at his feet to set on the small table between them. The case was like a miniature glasshouse, large enough to hold only a single bloom – a pale orchid. Beatrice thought it had jagged petals at first, but when she stepped closer she saw that they were actually pointed teeth, each petal ringed with dozens and dozens of them. Silvery strings of saliva hung down from some of them, sparkling in the slant of afternoon sun coming through the window.

‘It’s a slug orchid,’ James told her.

Beatrice recalled a time many years ago in the garden when James had held up a bright-yellow slug with blue tentacles for her to see. The Limax flavus, he’d said. Each slug has twenty-seven thousand teeth! Can you believe it?

She had been fascinated and delighted by such a fact.

‘It is not worth much, I’m afraid,’ James went on now. ‘The fashion is for butterfly orchids.’

Beatrice had seen the pictures of the butterfly orchid that James had discovered. Curtis’s Magazine had raved over the extraordinary flower, whose petals resembled butterfly wings. They were even said to be a favourite with the young Princess Victoria.

‘But this one has a beauty of its own, and I thought you might be one of the rare people who could appreciate it,’ James said. ‘It’s travelled all the way from Hawaii.’