After Peter had told her he had finished for the day , Lady Helen watched him set off steadily down the drive and disappear into the lane .

She felt totally disinclined to bother with anything very much for her evening meal , and leaned against the opened door , gazing out in the twilight across her acres towards the coppice . What should have been a soothing sight did nothing to alleviate her vague sense of disquiet.

Her minor feeling of discomfort arose from the fact that she was not as yet even faintly receiving anything that looked like acceptance from the Village. She did consider herself independent of the necessity for company and did not wish to be engaged in any social round , but isolation was a daunting prospect . It would be interesting , she pondered , to find out what the villagers had thought of the previous Lady Nascent . She had no real way of knowing , and so considered the possibility of attempting to make some discreet enquiries.

That idea she first automatically rejected , but then decided to give it more constructive thought , while she went in and made a small supper after all . Looking at the fairly meagre supplies in her pantry , she began to formulate a possible plan.

Up till this point she had subsisted on what remained growing in the once luxuriant kitchen garden and the fruit from the small orchard . The previous owner had laid in some stores of fruit in the cool cellars , and had even bottled some . These she had supplemented with tinned fruit and vegetables that she had brought down in large quantities in the van that had brought her own few goods there from London , since a preliminary scouting visit had revealed the general lack of a variety of provisions . She had tinned meat , and there were always rabbits.

Half a dozen hens and a very arrogant rooster made their contributions and from her past experience she was proficient in bread making.

However , she thought , perhaps it might be a good idea to distribute some custom among the village tradespeople . This she could do in two ways. She could front up to the butcher's if she wanted a change from rabbit , and could get most of her needed groceries from the shop that she assumed would be part of the village . Hopefully they would deliver. No doubt while she was going about her shopping she could get a general feeling for village reactions to her.

On the other hand , she could employ Peter to do the job .

But there was the disquieting question that had been raised by Mrs Day's letter. That was really a major problem for her , and it was one that needed to be solved as soon as possible . She could , of course confront him directly with the Mrs Day version of events , and see if there was any value to be gained from a face to face interrogation .

That , however , was not her way . Tough minded she might be , but she was quite drawn to the young man , despite the at least ten years of difference in their ages . He seemed cheerful and willing and had given absolutely no indication of any ulterior motives in seeking employment with her . No , she thought , even if he was an interloper as Mrs Day had suggested , it was probably much better to keep him working at the Manor under her close surveillance , gain his confidence as much as possible and do a little subtle questioning to dig more deeply into his bona fides .

Besides , she thought , there were still the papers the old solicitor had brought that needed to be gone through , and there also needed to be a search of the documents left by the previous Lady Nascent , to see what clues they might have to her own present position and those of any other possible claimants to the estate . That project would need to wait till the next morning , so that she could come at it objectively and with a clear head .

That decided her . Until she could clarify that particular situation , she would have to act on her own initiative about acceptance in the village, so having finished eating , she went up to change into what people might consider more respectable clothes than her overalls and boots .

Her first task , she decided , would simply be to explore the village and to see precisely what it could offer . This could easily be done with an unobtrusive excursion that very night to find what facilities that she might need were available .

Carrying a heavy four-celled torch , she locked up and set off to negotiate her way down the lane to the main street. In fact , she had not much need of the torch , as the moon was almost at its full , and though the lane was dappled with shadow it was light enough to make her way down the lane without using it.

Walking almost silently as she avoided the bumps and ruts , she stopped now and then to take in the beauty of the night . It was during one of those pauses that she heard the sound of someone approaching , two people in fact . They came closer and closer , and then just before they reached her , she flicked on the torch , and played it onto the young woman and her male companion .

The woman gave a terrified gasp , and the man let out an expletive .

It did not take much brainpower to work out that they were probably a courting couple , heading up the lane to a tryst in the coppice, so Helen simply turned off the torch , sidestepped past them , and without speaking , continued down the lane , leaving a flabbergasted couple speaking to each other in urgent tones .

Reaching the junction of lane and main street , she began a leisurely stroll down the road , noting carefully the various shops , pausing a moment before each of them to try to ascertain their function and to read , where she could , the owner's name . Her main objects , the butcher's and the grocery shop , were very quickly recognised . The Post Office and the Police Station were also easily found , and she noted Mrs Day's Florist Shop and the nearby Craft Shop.

She wondered if Mrs Day lived behind the shop , and almost rang the bell by the door , but then thought it best to wait , bring the letter with her and confront the owner , in broad daylight.

Church , School , and the blatant Macdonald's were easily located , as was the pub , already full and noisy . She was not tempted to enter , but peered through the big window at the front . She did not recognise anyone and was about to turn away when a largish man staggered out of the door , somewhat the worse for drink . He blinked at her owlishly , then moved towards her , arms outstretched.

-- What about a kiss then , lovely lady , he almost bellowed .

As he went to clutch at her , Lady Helen swung the heavy torch up into his groin with considerable force . The man stopped , clutched at himself instead of her , then fell with a howl to the ground . She stepped around him , turned , and having accomplished her aim for the evening , calmly proceeded back along the way she had come , towards the manor .

Lady Helen had made quite a mark in the village.