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someone liked him. His main problem was pleasing his mother, and he had long realised nothing he said or did would make any difference.
    That night when Joshua went to bed, he could not find his nightshirt. He looked everywhere he thought it might be, but eventually, he asked one of the servants for a clean one.
    The next day, his socks had gone, so he found another pair and thought no more about it. Then he noticed his scarf was missing, which was odd, because he had seen it the previous evening, hanging on the hook behind his bedroom door.
    Thinking Charlie might have seen it, Joshua went through the adjoining door, and realised someone had moved Sophie’s bed into her brother’s room. She was sitting on the eiderdown, clad in his missing nightshirt, with a scarf around her neck and socks as mittens.
    Charlie looked embarrassed. “I’m sorry, Josh. Can she have them for tonight? I will make sure she returns them in the morning.”
    Joshua burst out laughing. He had never seen anything so funny in his life. Then he realised Sophie took it as a sign of approval.
    The following evening, he found two fruit-laden biscuits on the clothes chest by his bed, and guessed who had placed them there. Now he would have to pretend to the housekeeper he was to blame for raiding the stores.
    Charlie came through the door, with similar biscuits in his hand.
    “Did Sophie leave some for you as well? I’ve told her that she’s not to go near the stillroom again.”
    Every day Joshua showed them something new. He went from the lower level of the nursery wing of the Hall, to the classroom on the top floor where he did his lessons. There was nobody there, because his father decreed studies should cease while Charlie and Sophie settled into their new home.
    Assuming the girls would want to be friends, Joshua asked Lucy and Julia to join them when they took a walk in the gardens, but Sophie scowled at them and remained resolutely by her brother’s side. Undeterred, he tried again, but each day was the same, until he realised that Sophie was not like other girls.
    They were always neat and tidy, but despite having a bath and her hair washed, she persisted in wearing the black clothes in which she had travelled from Ireland – and the same scuffed boots. The only difference being her black hair was now in a thick braid that reached halfway down her back. That was all she would allow the maid to do to it.
    For the first week they contrived to keep out of Matthew’s way by taking long walks across the parkland; but as time went on, Joshua knew the chances of that continuing grew slimmer. He knew something would have to be done, but could not imagine what it might be. Then things came to a head .
    It was halfway through the second week, as they slipped through the stable yard, that Joshua heard Matthew’s bragging voice. He stopped, not wanting to be caught in the open, yet knew they should go on.
    “I want a decent horse today, Shelwick. Not one of the dozy hacks you gave me last time my friends came. I’ll take Thunderer, so you’d better have it saddled ready for when my friends come in half an hour.”
    There was a burst of laughter from the stable lads, before Shelwick spoke.
    “That you won’t, young sir. He is the master’s horse, and it would take more ability than you have in the saddle to ride him.”
    “Do as I say, or my mother will dismiss you,” Matthew Norbery screamed.
    “No,” said the head groom. “I won’t do that, for if you fell off and broke your neck, she’d blame me for that. You will take whichever horse I think you are capable of riding. It’s Squire Norbery’s orders.”
    “When I’m Squire Norbery,” he boasted, “you’ll sing a different tune – and my brat of a brother as well, if he’s still here by then.”
    “By that time, I’ll be too old to care what happens to you.”
    Listening horrified outside the stable door, Joshua heard the familiar sound of clicking heels, and tried to slip out