The small boy missed having Kate living at the cottage since she had moved into the castle to work. But all the household staff lived in, for their hours were long and the housekeeper and head butler wanted them under their rule. Kate had packed jars of jam and pickled onions from Lizzie and had kept her Christmas soap from the Liddells for Mary, remembering her sister’s plea to bring something back for her. ‘We’ll pick you up tonight,’ Peter offered. ‘No, I can walk up the hill no bother,’ Kate insisted. ‘Don’t know which train I’ll catch.’ Her uncle nodded, but Alfred cried in alarm, ‘You will come back, won’t you?’ ‘Course I will.’ Kate ruffled his hair in affection. ‘I love it here.’ All the way to Tyneside, her excitement at seeing her family mounted. She craned for a view of the river as the draughty train clattered along downriver from Gateshead. Was Jack stoking up the fire to heat the oven?
