It seemed strange that both Cyrilla and Hannah should have gone out shopping when they were well aware that he had said he would be back first thing in the morning.
He knocked again, then walked up and down the pavement outside the house.
If they had been so inconsiderate as to go to the shops, then they could not intend to be long.
He told himself that perhaps there was nothing to eat in the house and Cyrilla had felt hungry and decided that, as he was so late, he would not now arrive until after luncheon.
‘I gave Hannah some money,’ he said to himself. ‘She should have had the sense to get some food in without waiting until this late hour.’
After he had knocked several times more, he saw his closed carriage coming down the road.
For a second he thought what excellent horseflesh was
