But the relationship with Monk was far too complicated to try to explain, and certainly not something likely to recommend her to a highly respectable family like the Farralines as a suitable companion for their mother.

Deirdra was still waiting, her eyes on Hester’s face.

“Sometimes,” she admitted, “I am delighted to miss the conditions, but I miss the companionship also, and that is hard.”

“And the challenge?” Deirdra pressed, leaning forward over the table. “Is it not a wonderful thing to try to accomplish something immensely difficult?”

“Not when you have no chance of success, and the pain of failure is other people’s suffering.”

Deirdra’s face fell. “No, of course not. I’m sorry, that was heartless of me. I did not mean it quite as it sounded. I was thinking of the challenge to the mind, to the inventiveness, to one’s own aspirations-I…” She stopped as the door opened and Oonagh came in. Oonagh glanced from one to the other of them, then her face softened in a smile.

“I hope you are comfortable, Miss Latterly, and being well looked after?”

“Oh yes, indeed, thank you,” Hester answered.

“I have been asking Miss Latterly about her experiences, or at least some of them,” Deirdra said enthusiastically. “It sounds most stimulating.”

Oonagh sat down and helped herself to tea. She looked across at Hester doubtfully.

“I imagine there are times when you must find England very restricting after the freedom of the Crimea?”

It was a curious remark, one that betrayed a far more intelligent consideration than was usual. It was no idle piece of conversation made merely for something to say.

Hester did not reply immediately, and Oonagh sought to explain herself. “I mean the weight of responsibility you must have had there, if what I have read is anywhere near the truth. You must have seen a great deal of suffering, much of it quite avoidable, had more sense been exercised. And I imagine you did not always have a senior officer to hand, either medical or military, every time some judgment had to be made.”