The custodians appeared the next morning. They were an elderly couple, farmers who lived further along the road, beyond the fields and woods of the St Clair estate. They were friendly, but Catherine could see that they were uncomfortable with both the idea of a St Clair heiress and her advanced state of pregnancy. When she tried to persuade them to work for her, they begged forgiveness. They were farmers, they said, fortunate enough to have their own land to till. They did not want to put their land or animals in the care of others. They were extremely sorry, but they could not fill posts in a St Clair establishment.
The old woman left a basket of fresh rolls and butter as a gift. Catherine pulled out a couple of rolls and handed one to Lydia.
“I suspect,” she said, “that the only reason
