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thought that this was true. In a sense, when one parent died you lost both of them for the other one, being no longer part of a pair, was altered in some way. Rhoda’s mother now belonged to another man and Henderson belonged to his work, which he had gone to as surely as some men went to whores’ beds; but Abby knew that the most important part of Henderson, that which fools would call his heart, was buried alongside Bella Reed in the cemetery and that in some ways Abby would never get him back. He belonged to his dead wife and that was why he had not married again. Abby did not know whether to be angry that he had given up or to be glad that he had not made a bad second marriage. Neither seemed of benefit to anyone.
    She walked a long way with Rhoda, beyond where she wouldhave been glad to turn back, grateful not to face the savage wind which screamed across the felltops. But Rhoda seemed oblivious to the weather; she had so little to go home to that was of any ease or comfort. Jos’s family would be there for Christmas and, though Abby had met them only briefly, she could see what kind of people they were. They were like Charlotte in a sense: they cared nothing for books, music or religion; nothing spiritual came near them. The men were crude and the women were vain. They had never seen beyond the dale nor hoped to and were secretly, she thought, afraid of everything outside it. Jos was one of them. She worried that he would be cruel and self-indulgent and that Rhoda would suffer. There was no longer a book in the house nor a piano. He drank and smoked, slept long and, Abby suspected, bedded Rhoda’s mother like a rutting goat. He did nothing useful because Rhoda’s father had left more than enough money for them to get by. Robert must have despised him, she thought. Abby made certain that there was nothing between the two men beyond pleasantries, though when she left she could not bear to look back and see Rhoda standing along with her sheepdog outside the door.
    ‘You will come and stay with us for the wedding?’ Abby had begged, and it was not just for Rhoda but for herself. She did not want to go and see Gil’s hungry gaze on the girl who was to be his sister-in-law, yet she had no excuse to offer for her absence. Rhoda would provide support and had promised to come unless there was snow and the weather prevented her.
    The wedding was fixed for two days before new year and Abby watched anxiously from the windows as the sky darkened and snow began to fall. Rhoda was to come to her the day before and to stay for more than a week afterwards. Abby’s plan was that it would snow then so that Rhoda would be obliged to spend several weeks with her in Newcastle during January and February. That way, neither of them would be lonely.
    Robert took Abby to several parties during December. Everywhere she went, Abby was accepted by Northumberlandsociety because of the man beside her. He asked her if she would visit his London house in the spring and here he would show her the city and take her to see the sights. Abby had not been to London and was excited at the idea. She had grown comfortable with him and had ceased to hanker after a boy who had proved stupid enough to fall in love with a woman he could not have. Abby felt the armour of Robert’s love and was content.
    *
    It had not at first seemed to Gil as though his brother had changed. All their lives, Edward had taken little notice of him and the day in the office when William hit his younger son would not make the difference. Gil assumed that Edward’s sympathy would pass, so he stored squirrel-like in his mind the way that his brother had defended him and the evening spent in the billiard hall. But, as each day went by and Edward did not revert to the superior scathing person whom Gil could not like, Gil stopped thinking about that day.
    Because he could not have Helen, it seemed somehow that at least he had gained his brother and, more and more, it felt traitorous