For a split second she considered saying no and shutting the door or keeping him standing outside. If she did the former he was quite capable of knocking again, and the latter was keeping him in full view of the houses opposite. With no softening in her face or manner, she said, ‘You had better come in for a minute with the weather being so inclement.’ There was a thick coating of snow on his hat and the shoulders of his greatcoat.

‘Thank you.’ As she stood aside he passed her into the hall and she caught a whiff of the faintly lemony, delicious scent she had smelled before at the pantomime when he was close. It made her stomach muscles tighten and her heart beat faster.

After closing the door she led the way into the front room, her senses screaming. Indicating one of the arm-chairs, she said, ‘Won’t you be seated?’

Again he said, ‘Thank you,’ but then made no effort to sit down. He stared at her, and on the perimeter of his mind he was conscious of the fact that the room reflected the woman who lived in it – it was unusual, light, warm, charming.

‘You said you wanted to talk to me?’ Funnily enough his obvious discomposure was having a calming effect. ‘Can I get you a hot drink, Mr Bembridge?’

‘Alex. Please call me Alex.’

She blinked. ‘I don’t think—’

‘Please.’ His voice was very soft and as their gaze held, hers wary and unsure, his full of something that she recognized but would not put a name to, he said, ‘I know I shouldn’t have come here, I really do know that and I have fought against it, believe me, but’ – he spread his hands in a helpless gesture – ‘I leave for the regiment the day after tomorrow and I couldn’t go without seeing you. It’s as simple as that.’ And then he shook his head at himself. ‘That’s a stupid thing to say, isn’t it, because this isn’t simple at all.’

‘Mr Bembridge—’

‘Alex, please.’

He seemed to fill her little room. Clearing her throat, she said, ‘I don’t know what you expected when you came here tonight but you are right, you shouldn’t have come. If I have somehow misled you into thinking—’

‘No.’ He interrupted her vehemently. ‘No, you haven’t misled me.’

‘Then why have you come?’

‘Because I couldn’t help myself, and please believe me, I have come with no expectation at all.’

He was such a big man, he seemed to be towering over her and, her voice weaker than she would have liked it to be, she said, ‘Please sit down and I’ll make a hot drink before you leave.’

For a moment she thought he was going to say more but instead, after one tortured glance, he sank into the armchair she had indicated.