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your nails, Clover.’
    â€˜I’m – oh, it doesn’t matter,’ said Columbine.
    Rose was not listening. ‘No, Lily. Your job will be to stay here and look after the others. That’s the best way you can help.’ Lily’s relief was immediate and evident. The outside world was terrifying to her. Columbine and Clover were dismayed. Lily look after them! Why, she couldn’t even look after herself. Clover opened her mouth to say so. Rose shot her a warning glower.
    â€˜You’ll never earn enough money to save Hartslove, Rose,’ Daisy pointed out, trying to be realistic. ‘You’d have to be – I don’t know – the prime minister or something to earn enough. And even if you were the prime minister, you’d still need to be him for a long time before you had enough money, and a buyer could come up the drive tomorrow with money in a sack.’
    Lily gripped her chair.
    â€˜For God’s sake, Daisy!’ shouted Rose, losing her temper. ‘I’m trying my best!’
    Lily began to cry and the twins to clamour. Though she was sorry to upset, Daisy still had her question. ‘But what if the horse really is The One? I mean, if he really did win the Derby, would Hartslove be safe then?’
    â€˜For goodness sake, Daisy! Clover! Columbine! Shut up!’
    â€˜But would it?’ Daisy could not give up.
    Rose tried to collect herself. It was not fair to be angry with Daisy. ‘I suppose so,’ she said.
    The twins stopped clamouring. ‘And if Hartslove was safe, would Ma come back?’ Columbine had to ask.
    There was a small gasp from Lily, Daisy and Clover. All faces were now turned to Rose. ‘I don’t know,’ she said bluntly.
    â€˜But might it help?’ Clover leaned forward.
    Rose stood up very quickly. ‘Why do you have to ask such things?’ she cried. ‘We don’t even know why she went, so how can we know why she’d come back!’
    Lily shrank into her chair. Again, Rose tried to collect herself. ‘It couldn’t make things worse though,’ she said in her more usual voice. ‘It absolutely couldn’t do that.’
    The council of war came to an unglamorous end. Lily was white as a ghost. Clover and Columbine scurried back to the newspaper hoard. Rose counted it a failure.
    Daisy went into the hall. Somebody had slotted her crutches one under each arm of the Furious Boy. Despite the frost, she swung herself out to the Resting Place and sat on the flat stone. For once the Resting Place offered no comfort. Nothing stirred. The shadows were absent. Restless, she got up and swung herself to the stable yard.
    Skelton had taken the vegetable cart on errands and The One was alone in the last of the six loose-boxes. He was looking out, but when Daisy called he took no notice. Nordid he seem to notice when she stroked all the way down his white blaze and traced his sickle snip. He was in a world all of his own. Leaning her crutches against the wall, Daisy unbolted the stable door, went inside and bolted it again. The One still did not move. Skelton had laid down straw, but the bed did not look comfortable. As best she could, Daisy began to push the straw into banks against the wall and to flatten out the rest. The colt still took no notice, not even when she straightened the woollen rug fastened loosely under his belly. She sat down, her legs out in front of her. ‘I’m sorry you’re alone,’ she said. ‘There used to be lots of horses here, but they’ve all been sold.’ He turned his head to scratch, and only now seemed to catch sight of her. He cocked his ears and wandered over, clumsily scuffing the straw. Daisy was suddenly very aware that her legs were completely exposed. If he was careless, he would stand on one or both. She could try and pull them up or she could do nothing. He loomed enormous above her. One front hoof was raised. Daisy did nothing. The