‘I’m glad you’ve taken Tommy in. I know he’ll be all right with you. Now I have to go or Ezra will get suspicious.’ Emmie hobbled from the room, passing Hester in the doorway.

‘What’s going on?’ Hester demanded. ‘I’ve been helping Mrs Jackson to check through the contents of the storeroom. I could hear the shouting from below stairs.’

Rosalind sank down on the sofa. ‘Hester, does the name Sarah or Sally Farthing mean anything to you?’

‘How do you know about her?’

‘So you are familiar with the name?’

‘It was years ago, Rosie. You were only twelve or thirteen at the time.’

‘And Bertie was seventeen or eighteen. Did Grandpapa tell you what was going on between Bertie and that girl?’

‘I knew.’ Hester subsided onto an upright chair. ‘It was just an infatuation. Bertie thought he was in love with one of the servants from Greystone Park. Your grandpapa put an end to such nonsense.’

‘But it wasn’t nonsense, apparently.’

‘What do you mean by that?’

‘Sarah Farthing gave birth to a baby boy. She named him Tommy.’

‘Were those people claiming that the sweep’s boy is Bertie’s son?’

‘Not Trimble. He tried to convince me that Tommy is his child, but I had a chat with his wife. Emmie Trimble is Sarah Farthing’s sister. She says that Tommy is Bertie’s son.’

‘Let the mother come forward then, and we’ll ask her.’

‘She died of a fever five years ago, Hester.’

‘Then there’s no proof.’

‘Tommy was baptised in St Pancras Church in Exeter.’

Hester exhaled sharply. ‘Did the woman say that Bertie knew about the child?’

‘Apparently Sarah didn’t tell him because she knew he would be in trouble with Grandpapa, who incidentally paid her to move to Exeter. Did you know about that?’

‘He might have mentioned it, but your grandfather was very concerned for Bertie. He was little more than a boy – such a liaison would have ruined him.’

Rosalind stared at her, shaking her head. ‘You knew all this and you never told us?’

‘It wasn’t my place to speak about it. Your grandfather trusted me and I would have died rather than betray him.’

‘You really did love him, didn’t you?’

‘Believe me, Rosie. I know exactly how it feels to love someone who is unattainable. I felt for Sarah Farthing, but she would never have been accepted socially. Neither she nor Bertie deserved a fate like that.’

‘But you married Grandpapa.’

‘Yes, in the end I did, but only after years of keeping in the background and being treated like a servant. You’ll never know how that feels.’

‘We’ve always loved you, Hester.’

‘I know, poppet, and that made everything worthwhile.’

‘Despite the problems it might cause, Bertie will have to be told.’

‘Yes, I agree.’