That must have been how it was for Melissa when she finally discovered what Grace had known for years, for Grace knew without a second’s hesitation or doubt that that was what had happened. The pain and despair, the humiliation, the sickening realisation that everything you thought you had built was actually made of nothing stronger than gossamer. Grace was certain now. If Melissa had taken her own life, then Grace knew exactly what had pushed her to do it and where the blame lay.

Things had changed radically at Hartsford Hall over the last two weeks. It was as if the gods had tired of the previous arrangement and needed something new to entertain them. First Charles had come home with news. He was shouting for her the moment he burst through the front door, like a child with a carefully chosen gift, quite incapable of holding on to the secret of its contents but driven to expel it at the first opportunity.

Even as he called out the single syllable of her name, Grace could hear the excitement in his voice. She had barely made it into the hallway when he was on her. He picked her up by her waist and spun her around as if she were a girl again.

‘What?’ she laughed, as she struggled to get her feet back on solid ground. ‘What on earth has happened?’

‘They’ve only gone and made me leader!’ he said with a smile that would have lit up the moors for miles. ‘You are looking at the new leader of Apollo Philharmonic Orchestra.’ Charles gave a little bow, his hand sweeping down to the tiled floor. Grace noted that the bald spot on the top of his head had increased a little in size since last she noticed it. Charles, of course, had never mentioned it.

‘That’s fantastic!’ replied Grace, opening her arms wide and pulling him to her. ‘I am so thrilled. Well done you,’ she added emphatically, and Charles beamed as the rays of her praise fell on him.

And it was a big deal. The leader of the orchestra was a senior and much respected position, and whilst Charles had had his eye on it for years, Grace had not really believed that he would get it. He always seemed too rascally to be given proper responsibility, but maybe others recognised a more serious side to him that she was neither looking for nor seeing.

A small flurry of publicity had followed. Grace watched as Charles seemed to swell with pride. There was a nice piece in the Sunday supplements’ arts pages and he was interviewed on the local radio station and Classic FM. There had even been a spread in the Newcastle Chronicle which the staff at the Hall had seen and then chattered about. It seemed that after years of living in the shadow of her barony, Charles was finally getting his own moment in the sunshine.