From the look on his face she guessed that he had been about to give her the sack, and was furious that she’d gotten her word in first.

‘And may I ask if you expect me to give you a reference, Señora?’

‘You may do as you please. I’m never short of work. In short, Señor, I’m as indifferent to your opinion of me as you are to mine of you.’

That really annoyed him, she was glad to see.

‘I’ll just say goodbye to Catalina and Isabella,’ she said, heading for the bedroom door, ‘and then I won’t trouble you again.’

But when she entered Isabella’s room an alarming sight met her. The duenna’s plump form was tossing and turning, and her flushed face was twisted with pain.

Catalina was sitting on the bed. She turned quickly when Maggie entered. Her face was frantic.

‘She’s so ill,’ Catalina wailed. ‘I don’t know what to do. She won’t let me call a doctor.’

‘She needs more than a doctor,’ Maggie said swiftly. There was no telephone by the bed so she looked back to the sitting room and called, ‘Get an ambulance.’

‘What has happened?’ Sebastian asked, heading for her.

‘I’ll tell you later,’ she said impatiently. ‘Call the ambulance. Hurry!’

‘No,’ Isabella protested weakly. ‘I will be well soon.’

‘You’re in great pain, aren’t you?’ Maggie asked, dropping to her knees beside the bed and speaking gently.

Isabella nodded miserably. ‘It’s nothing,’ she tried to say, but the words were cut off by a gasp. Isabella clutched her side and her head rolled from side to side in agony. Sweat stood out on her brow.

Maggie hurried out. ‘I’ve called them,’ Sebastian said. ‘They’ll be here soon. You evidently think it’s serious.’

‘Earlier tonight she said it was a headache, but the pain seems to be in her side. It may be her appendix, and if it’s ruptured it’s serious.’