When Erlina looked at them, she felt that, attractive though they were, they were all three of them far too thin.
The Vicar too looked older than his age.
She felt her hatred for the Marquis well up inside her again and she wanted to denounce him as she had often done before.
Then she asked herself what was the point? He was impervious to anything that might be said of him.
It was therefore only poetic justice that she and Gerry should take shelter under his roof when they had nowhere else to go.
As the Vicar rose from his chair, she said,
“We will go up to The Hall now – and thank you a million times for being so kind to us.”
The Vicar put his hand on her shoulder.
“I wish I could do more,” he said, “but you know how difficult things are at present.”
“Of course I know,” Erlina an
