‘Get to him before the trial, ma’am. Warn him what will happen if he gives names and details. That’s all I can suggest. If it means he does a longer stretch it’s better than what will befall him, if you get my meaning.’ Emmie looked over her shoulder. ‘I got to go, ma’am. Think about what I said.’

Chapter Twenty-One

‘Rosie, is everything all right?’

Alexander had come up behind her without Rosalind noticing. She turned her head to meet his anxious glance with a smile. ‘Nothing to worry about, Alex.’

‘Who was that woman?’

Rosalind looked round, but Emmie had vanished into a stand of yew trees. ‘She’s Trimble’s wife. The man who sold Tommy to the chimney sweep.’

‘I remember, but what did she want with you?’

‘She said that Piers will be in danger from the gangs if he turns Queen’s evidence.’

‘I really don’t know what he’s got himself into, Rosie, and that’s the truth.’

‘He swore to me that he would never break the law again. I can’t believe that he’s been lying to me for the last three years.’

‘I wasn’t going to tell you until later, but the business is in a sorry state. Piers has been using the profits from the mining company to fund his excursions abroad, and whatever money he’s made from illegal dealings, he hasn’t been putting it back in the company. Pedrick seems to have been party to his dealings, and I was forced to sack him, and give his job to Martin Gibbs, the young under manager, on a temporary basis. I should have stayed in Cornwall, but I wanted to come home in time for the trial. I really need to speak to my brother.’

‘I went to the prison but he refused to see me.’

‘I’m not surprised by that. Anyway, it’s not the sort of place you should go, Rosie. You are the innocent party in all this, and as far as I’m concerned my brother can rot in prison for the rest of his life.’

‘We don’t know his side of things, Alex.’

He glanced over his shoulder. ‘We should make a move. I left Hester in the barouche. The children went on with Sylvia and Aurelia, but Hester wouldn’t leave without you.’

‘I suppose we’ll have to go to the reception, although I really don’t feel like it.’

‘Come on, Rosie. There’s nothing we can do today. We have a wedding breakfast to attend and Patsy won’t want to see you looking sad. It’s her big day, after all.’

‘All right, Alex, but I’m going to see Piers before the trial and nothing will prevent me.’