‘That’s not fair.’ Rosalind sent a warning glance to Alexander. ‘We were both very distressed, but we didn’t want to upset you any more than necessary. Piers has his trial coming up the day after tomorrow, and we both begged him to turn Queen’s evidence and have his sentence commuted.’

‘Even that has its dangers,’ Alexander added seriously. ‘He might serve less time in prison but the gangs are run by vicious men and if Piers followed that path he might endanger our lives as well as his own.’

‘I can’t believe that my brother could have dealt with such dreadful people.’ Aurelia mopped her eyes with her handkerchief. ‘I want to go home to Grandmama, Alex. I don’t want to stay here.’

‘I have to attend the trial,’ Alexander said patiently. ‘But as soon as it’s over I’ll take you back to Trevenor. There was precious little money left to run the mine, but I’ll see what I can do to restore it to its full potential.’

On the day of the trial the hours seemed to last twice as long as they did normally. Rosalind did her best to keep busy. In the morning, after Alex had left for Exeter, she did her rounds of the tenants on horseback with Dolly strapped to her chest in a sling. Hester had done her best to dissuade her from taking the baby but Rosalind was determined to make Dolly as much a part of Rockwood as possible from the very earliest age. When her child was old enough to ride a pony she would take her on a leading rein, and everyone in Rockwood village would know Miss Adela Blanchard. But for now Dolly was still a tiny baby and as such she drew admiring comments from the farmers’ wives and anyone Rosalind met during her travels. It seemed that the whole village knew about the trial and she received sympathetic glances, although very few people took it upon themselves to wish for a successful outcome.

At the end of an exhausting day, Rosalind arrived back at the castle in time to feed Dolly and put her to bed, leaving her under the watchful eye of Molly Greep, whose position as lady’s maid had ended abruptly when Patricia decided to live at Greystone Park. Molly had been used to caring for her younger siblings and she clearly adored Dolly, which made her an ideal nanny. Rosalind emerged from the nursery and met Louise coming out of the schoolroom.

‘I thought you would have gone home ages ago, Louise.’

‘I like to make sure that Nancy and Tommy get a proper supper. I don’t think Mrs Jackson takes them seriously. Sometimes she forgets them altogether and they have to go down to the kitchen and ask for food. I’m afraid she doesn’t see them as members of the family.’