‘Let him try. I’m not going far until after our baby is born. I’ll have a word with Constable Burton and I’ll ask him to keep an eye out for our friend Trimble. He won’t bother you again, Rosie. I’ll make sure of that.’

‘I wonder if I ought to write to Bertie and tell him about Tommy.’

‘I think you should, Rosie. Just in case anything happens to him. Not that it will,’ he added hastily. ‘Bertie knows how to take care of himself. If you write to him we’ll get Alex to send it through official channels.’

‘You’ve heard from your brother?’ Rosalind made an effort to sound casual. She had not seen or heard from Alexander for what seemed like an eternity. She knew that there was no possibility of any meaningful relationship with him, but she missed his company. He had always had a way of making her laugh, and they shared a similar sense of humour. She loved Piers, of course, but he was always so serious these days, and despite his promises to the contrary he was still spending most of his time away from home. Building up the business was beginning to seem like an obsession, which Piers strongly denied.

He looked up from a document he had been studying. ‘Didn’t I tell you? Alex wrote to me last week. He’s been discharged from the army on medical grounds. They say his leg will never heal well enough for him to go on active service, and he couldn’t settle to an office job at the War Office.’

‘What will he do, Piers? The army has been his whole life.’

‘I’ve offered him a partnership in the business. He’ll be based at Trevenor, but I’ve invited him here for a while so that I can give him a thorough grounding in the business. You don’t mind, do you?’

‘No, of course not.’ Rosalind turned away to pat Bob on the head. It was a hot sultry day outside, but the rush of colour to her cheeks could not be explained by the cool temperature in the drawing room.

‘Walter is here until he returns to university in October,’ Piers said casually. ‘It will be good for him to have some company. Maybe Alex can get him away from those damned books for a while.’

‘That’s not fair. Walter is working hard on his latest literary effort. He won’t tell me what it is but I have a feeling he’s writing a novel. The only person he’ll take into his confidence is Louise.’

‘Don’t tell me that Walter is taking an interest in a young woman at last?’

‘She’s a good listener and very well read. Louise is a very nice person and extremely intelligent.’

‘She must be at least five years his senior.’