Whatever, it was a damn mess and for the life of him he didn’t know how to put it right. Lawrence’s time in the army was over and, like himself, it was the only thing his friend had ever wanted to do. They had met at prep school and been close companions ever since, going to university together and getting their commissions on the same day.

It wasn’t long before the carriage was bowling between the iron gates and onto the gravel drive which led to Highfield Hall itself. Alexander’s grandfather had had the house built to his own specifications, and he had been a man with a keen appreciation of beauty in all its forms. The drive was wide and could take four coaches abreast, and the manicured gardens and sculptured trees were even lovely in the winter with a coating of snow, but the house was magnificent. It was made of mellow stone with two huge wings either side, and as the drive widened out into an enormous forecourt and Alexander looked at his home he experienced a sense of pleasure. This hadn’t always been the case. In the couple of years when he had been at loggerheads with his parents about joining the army, the whole estate had felt more like a prison. A luxurious, beautiful and comfortable one, but a prison nonetheless.

Now as the massive front door was opened, a footman came hurrying down the curved steps to where the carriage had pulled up just in time to open the door allowing Alexander to descend, whereupon he helped the children down one by one. It was quite dark by now but the snow and not least the brilliance of the lights shining from many of the windows in the house lit up the area like day.

‘They are waiting for you in the drawing room, Mr Alexander, for cocktails before dinner, and Nanny has the children’s tea ready in the nursery.’

Cocktails before dinner. Here we go, Alexander thought. No doubt the ladies would be in their finery and outdoing each other to shine – the Conways and the Charlton-Smythes, that was. They had all arrived for Christmas that morning, and he had been immensely relieved he had booked the pantomime for Nicholas and Rosaleen and could legitimately leave everyone to it after lunch. He had seen Lawrence to his suite of rooms in the east wing first, smiling wryly when his friend had remarked that being an invalid did have certain compensations at times. Lawrence disliked high society almost as much as he did.

Once inside the grand hall, where a number of glass chandeliers sparkled like stars, Alexander said in an aside to the footman, ‘Tell my mother I’m going to change before I join them, would you?’ Taking his godchildren by the hand, he walked them up the magnificent staircase to where their nanny was waiting.