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poker.
    One yelled out in shock and stumbled, falling a few steps before he could grab the wooden rails and save himself.
    The other moved towards her, but jerked to a stop as the young maid sprang out of hiding and struck out at him with the metal ewer, screeching even more loudly than her mistress.
    Cook was yelling, ‘Help! Police! Murder!’ over and over again and waving her poker wildly.
    The man who’d fallen down a few stairs turned and fled.
    Cursing loudly, the man next to Emily tried to punch her but missed. She managed to hit his shoulder a glancing blow with the poker and raised it for another. But with a yell of pain, he turned and ran after his companion.
    Emily didn’t make the mistake of pursuing him. ‘Well done!’ she told her two helpers and had to lean against the chest of drawers for a few moments till her heart stopped fluttering unevenly in her chest.
    Cook plumped down on the top step, patting her massive bosom. ‘Oh, my. Oh, my! I never thought to see the day.’
    ‘Let’s go and make sure they’ve left the house.’ Emily led the way down the stairs, followed closely by the young maid, with Cook trailing reluctantly behind them.
    They found a broken window in the scullery but no sign of the intruders. Then a man’s shadow wavered across the backyard area, coming towards them.
    Emily tensed.
    ‘Miss Newington?’ a voice quavered. ‘Be you all right?’
    She took a deep breath and refused to give in to a slight dizziness. ‘Come in, Horace. We’ve had burglars, but we chased them away.’
    She had to make the cups of tea herself, because Cook decided to ‘throw a spasm’ and sat weeping loudly into a tea towel. Lyddie was still so excited she broke a cup and looked like breaking another until Emily took them out of her hands. ‘Sit down and pull yourself together this minute!’
    ‘Sorry, miss.’
    ‘We’ll send for the police first thing in the morning,’ Emily said. ‘In the meantime, I’d be grateful if you’d sleep in the house tonight, Horace. I’m going to load one of my uncle’s shotguns and if they dare to come back, I shall have no hesitation in shooting them.’
    ‘Better load one for me, too,’ he said. ‘I’m too old to fight anyone, but I can still pull a trigger, yes and hit a target.’
    ‘You know how to use a gun?’
    He chuckled. ‘Oh, yes, miss. In fact, I’ll come and help you load them.’
    Emily slept rather badly for the rest of the night, but she felt they’d all acquitted themselves very well, considering, and told her little band of helpers so in the morning.
    Cook had provided a more substantial breakfast than usual, ‘to build up our strength’.
    The woman wasn’t too upset to clear her plate, Emily noticed, hiding a smile, but she didn’t grudge them the ham and eggs. They’d stood by her at some risk to their own safety and that was what counted.
    As soon as it was light she sent young Lyddie into Wootton Bassett on the bus that passed occasionally along the main road, with a note to let the police know what had happened. Then she waited for someone to come out to investigate. She had had a quick look round herself and found boot marks in the damp soil at the edges of the lane.
    She was quite sure this was part of an attempt to drive her away and force her to sell the house to her cousin. Well, Arthur didn’t know her very well if he thought she’d give in to this sort of bullying.
    She would go and see her new lawyer again as soon as she could get into Swindon. She intended to make a new will. He’d told her she was free to leave her property to someone other than her cousin, because the conditions of inheritance would be broken by her death if she died before the ten years were up. Her former lawyer had told her she was obliged to leave it to her cousin. Malpractice, that, but it was no use challenging a lawyer. The other lawyers and judges would only close ranks on her. And Parker had only ever said that to her, not put it in