‘I’ll work on some posters before dinner and I’ll get Tom Hannaford to put one up in his father’s shop window. Louise will help me and we’ll go round tomorrow spreading the word and delivering invitations. The news will go round like wildfire anyway. A party at Rockwood Castle is something that no one will want to miss.’

‘I knew I could depend upon you.’ Rosalind blew him a kiss as she mounted the stairs and hurried on her way to the schoolroom, where she found Tommy and Nancy busy making paperchains.

‘Look what we’re doing.’ Tommy jumped to his feet, holding up a length of rather sticky pieces of paper glued together with flour-and-water paste.

‘That’s beautiful, Tommy.’ Rosalind smiled. ‘Perhaps we should leave them to dry while we go up to the top tower room and look for the decorations.’

‘Yes, please.’ Nancy laid her work carefully on the nearest table.

‘Coaker has brought in a large Christmas tree for the entrance hall,’ Rosalind said as she led them out of the room towards the narrow servants’ staircase. ‘And I’ll ask Captain Alex to find a smaller one for the drawing room. We’re going to be very busy for the next few days.’ She stopped on the top landing. ‘And we’re having a big Yuletide party for the whole village on Saturday evening.’

‘May we come?’ Nancy asked breathlessly.

‘Of course you may. It’s almost Christmas and we’re going to celebrate.’

An hour later the large tree in the entrance hall was decorated with the carefully unwrapped glass balls, scarlet bows and tinsel. Nancy and Tommy did most of the choosing and hanging of decorations, but twelve-year-old Noah Coaker, Abe’s grandson, had been called in to climb the ladder and put the star on the topmost spike of the fir tree, as he was head and shoulders taller than Nancy. The children’s excitement began to wane when they thought they had finished, but Alexander appeared with a smaller but still reasonably large tree for the drawing room. They followed him as if he were the Pied Piper and the three children watched eagerly while Alexander secured the tree in a large tub of soil, strategically placed by Abe himself. Rosalind stood with Dolly cuddled in her arms as she watched the proceedings with a smile on her face. Alexander made the children laugh, but he was able to control their excitement with a single word and they behaved beautifully. When the tree was safe he allowed them the freedom to place the decorations where they wished, even if the result was slightly lopsided and Tommy was more interested in the wooden soldiers than the prettier tree ornaments.

Eliza Madge had come down from the nursery with her baby boy in her arms, and she watched the children’s antics with a smile on her face.