‘It’s Christmas, Hester. We’ll ask Madame and her brother to join us, too.’

‘I’ll have to go to market again,’ Hester protested.

‘Agathe and I will go with you.’ Rosalind clutched Hester’s arm. ‘We’ll do it together. Please, Hester, say you will.’

Alex had been silent during the conversation, lying back against a pile of pillows, but he raised his head with an attempt at a smile. ‘Don’t I have a say in all this?’

‘Of course you do.’ Rosalind hurried to his bedside. ‘It’s for your sake as much as anything, Alex. After all, tomorrow should have been your wedding day. We ought to mark the occasion in some way.’

‘I’m glad Patsy can’t see me now,’ Alex said with a wry smile.

‘I think you look quite regal in that velvet robe. You only need a crown and you could be a king holding court,’ Rosalind said cheerfully. ‘Anyway, Alex, your leg will heal and we’ll all travel home together. Piers will recover. I won’t allow him to die.’

Alex reached up to stroke her cheek. ‘He wouldn’t dare, Rosie.’

‘That’s right. I’ll sit with him when I return from the market, and I’ll tell him he simply must get better.’

Colonel Munday smiled. ‘You would make an excellent general, ma’am. I salute you, and I look forward to joining you tomorrow.’

‘One o’clock, Colonel,’ Rosalind said confidently. ‘We’ll have hot rum punch, exactly as my grandfather used to make at Christmas. We might be far from home, but we’ll raise a glass to our loved ones.’