Hector had stopped shouting. He had been barking at them all for three whole months since Charles’s death and now suddenly his voice was gone, struck dumb by what he had learned. Grace willed him to speak to her, longed for him to tell her what was going through his mind, but he remained resolutely silent. And he gave nothing away, his face like a mask, giving her no hint of whatever he was feeling. He was so like his father, Grace thought. Now was not the time to mention it, but he would make an amazing poker player. Grace hoped, though, that her son would have no cause to use that impenetrable expression, unlike Charles, who had managed to keep his secrets for thirty years.

Hector didn’t utter a single syllable all the way back to the Hall, and when they arrived he took himself off to his part of it without a word.

‘Don’t you think we ought to talk about this?’ Grace called after him, but he didn’t even acknowledge that she had spoken.

It was a shock. Grace understood that. Hector had had no way of seeing what was just around the corner, and when he ran headlong into it there had been no time to slam on the brakes and minimise the impact. It must be hard enough for him to deal with the fact that he now had a half-sister, but worse, so much worse than that was what he had been forced to accept about his father. Everything that he had always known and had no reason whatsoever to doubt had just been slit open in front of his eyes like a hunted stag, so graceful and majestic one moment and sliced to its core the next. Hector had always idealised his father. This would take time to process, Grace knew. She had to give him that and be there for him when he was ready to talk, whenever that was.

Clio was less of an immediate worry, but it had stung Grace to discover that she had known about her father and not said anything. Then again, wasn’t that exactly what she had done to Clio herself? Part of her was proud of the way that Clio had behaved in the face of the truth, but what a thing it was to be proud of. At least she hadn’t had to keep it locked inside for as long as she had, and for that Grace was very grateful. And of course, Clio hadn’t been on her own. She had had Leah and, even though she hadn’t shared their secret, Grace could tell how important that relationship had become to her daughter. Leah would not feel like an imposter to Clio, which she must surely do to Hector – a cuckoo in his nest.