‘Oh, Mags . . . I—’

‘I’ll not be long. See you in a mo.’ With this, Mags escaped through the gate without looking back. She couldn’t stay. Her pain had cracked and left her exposed. Tears flowed down her cheeks. Picking up the hem of her skirt, she ran towards the churchyard. Once there, she made her way to Montel’s grave and sank down onto her knees. ‘Oh, Montel, my darling, I tried. I tried to get through today without breaking. But I miss you so much. Come back to me – come back to me.’

‘Can I be of assistance, Mags?’

‘Jerome! What on earth?’ Dabbing her eyes with her handkerchief, Mags looked up in astonishment at Jerome. A member of the same hunt meet that she had belonged to, they had been friends for years, but she hadn’t given him a thought for . . . well, she didn’t know for how long. How could he be standing here! Was she dreaming?

‘Sorry to startle you, old thing.’

‘But how?’

‘Let’s sit down on that bench over there. Oh, Mags, I can’t say how good it is to have found you.’

‘You’ve been looking?’

‘Yes. Well, since I’ve been back home, that is. I graduated from medical school and am now a doctor. I wanted to write while I was away, but . . . well, I heard you were married. Anyway, why the tears? Is that someone you loved? It broke my heart to see you like that.’

Mags told him all that had happened.

‘My God, Mags! I – I just don’t know what to say. And all of this happened to you because you made friends with another nurse in Belgium? Well, I mean, it led to this – of course it wasn’t the cause.’

‘Yes, it was a fateful day, the day my friend Flora brought her brother to our house. But I’m still mystified about how you came to be here. Look, I’ve been missing too long from Betsy’s wedding. I made the excuse that I wanted to freshen up, but I think they would have guessed the real reason.’

‘Loneliness is a terrible thing. Montel sounds like he was an amazing person. I’m sorry for your loss.’

‘Thank you. Shall we walk to my house, where I can change? I’ve soiled my dress, lying on the grass like that. It’s only over the road. And yes, loneliness does eat away at you.’

When they were walking along the road, Jerome explained how he came to be here. ‘I saw your family home for sale, and . . . well, I bought it.’

‘What?’

‘Yes, I always loved it. And recently I lost my grandparents – well, as you know, they were as rich as stink, lovely grandparents that they were. And they only left it all to me. I have their house and grounds, a manor house in Berkshire, and pots of money: lucky me. Though I will miss them, as they were adorable.’