Cissie had her own thoughts on that. For some time, she’d been concerned that Kathy was getting just a little too close to Ben for comfort. They had been brought up as family and Cissie feared nothing good could come of it. Admittedly they were not blood related, but Kathy was not yet seventeen, and he was well into his forties! The thought of the scandal a relationship between them would cause, and how upset Sunday would be, made Cissie shudder. Not that she dared to voice her opinion. Kathy could be feisty – like her mother Kitty had been before her – and Cissie was all too aware that should she say anything Kathy would probably snap at her and tell her to mind her own business.

Since Tom’s death, Ben had taken over the household accounts and was now responsible for paying the bills. In addition, he and George tended the grounds and ran the stud business, which was thankfully still thriving. It was just as well, for the money that Sunday’s mother had left her was long spent. Sunday’s mother – the late Lady Lavinia Huntley – and her second husband, had gone to live in the South of France to enjoy their twilight years together in the sun, and had sadly passed away within months of each other the year before. That had been yet another heartache for Sunday to bear, for once reunited with the mother she had never known she had as a child, they had forged a strong bond. Sunday had taken her passing badly.

But now Cissie was determined that it was time for Sunday to face the world again. The way she saw it, she couldn’t grieve forever, so she went on, ‘I thought if we went to watch the carnival, we might do a little shopping when it was over. I can’t remember when you last had a new dress and they’re so easy to buy off the peg now. The days of havin’ to be measured an’ go for all them fittin’s are well an’ truly over, an’ to my mind that’s no bad thing. So, what do you think? I could do wi’ a day out, to be honest. It feels like it’s all work at the minute an’ yer know the old sayin’ – all work an’ no play …’

Sunday glanced at her friend’s face and sighed resignedly. Cissie had been her rock and she supposed it would be selfish to refuse her. ‘I’ll think about it,’ she answered quietly and, satisfied, Cissie nodded.