‘No. No, he hasn’t.’ Mr Smethington-Blythe, the doctor from London, had been stiff and highfalutin as befitted his exalted position, and Rose hadn’t liked him at all. He had apparently brought Alexander into the world, though, and Arabella had great faith in him, despite him being in his seventies, so she had agreed to see him but once having met him she had put her foot down. She wanted a local doctor or midwife. So Dr Price had visited Highfield with his nurse, had pronounced her fit and well and was due again in a few days unless he was called before then. Rose had found him brisk but approachable and he’d had none of the other man’s condescending manner when he had attended her. She smiled at Jinny. ‘But I’ll send someone to collect a bottle today.’

By the time Jinny left the house she had been engaged as Rose’s nursery maid and was due to take up residence at the end of the week. One of the maids had shown her the day nursery, the night nursery, and the nursery maid’s bedroom and sitting room and bathroom. Jinny had been overwhelmed by the luxury of it all but reassured by the person of Rose herself. She felt she and her mistress would get along fine.

Rose felt this too, and she went to bed that night more at peace than she had been for a while. She hadn’t left the house and grounds for some time as the pregnancy had progressed and she had felt uncomfortable, but the inactivity coupled with her physical condition was frustrating. Even after her marriage to Alexander she had been used to going into town and helping out at the bakery most days before popping in to see Amy and little John. She and Alexander were the baby’s godparents and she had used this as an excuse to shower him with gifts, buying his cot and pram and highchair as well as lots of clothes as he grew. It was a way of helping Amy and Frank financially by the back door, as Alexander had put it, because Frank was a proud man and wouldn’t accept what he would have termed as charity. Amy had come to see her the week before and she had almost felt like crying when they had said goodbye which was ridiculous, she knew, but in a house full of people she felt lonely.