Tobias had meant his coat and hat, but he took the bag anyway. "We'll put ye in my old room. Yours is used for storage at the moment," he said.

Then he took the bag up. On his way back, he told the girls to come down. Soon there were muffled voices having an argument upstairs.

Jenny, meanwhile, came in with a tray with tea and sandwiches. "Here we are. Oh, can I take yer coat and hat, ser?"

Tobias came down, his face a little red. He sat down opposite from where his brother was standing. "Alice and Anne will be down in a moment," he said, before falling silent again because he had nothing else to say to his brother other than statements of fact.