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Housekeeper walked in. 
    ‘Where’s Mrs Davis?’ she asked. 
    ‘She’s in the herb garden,’ replied Wyn. 
    ‘Can you tell her we need to discuss the menus for the Mayday Hunt.  The family are expecting several guests that day and after all that has happened recently, we need to put on a good show,’ said Mrs Danvers. 
    Wyn nodded and carried on peeling the potatoes for dinner.  That sounds exciting she thought, I wonder how much of the hunt we will be able to see.  She had seen a hunt before in Wales and knew how exciting it could get.  She said to Betty, who had just walked into the kitchen, ‘we are going to have a hunt for Mayday.  Don’t you think that is exciting? 
    I’ve never seen one,’ said Betty.  ‘You don’t get many of those in the east end of London.’  ‘You’ll love it,’ said Wyn.  ‘It will give everyone something else to think about.’ 
    When Mrs Davis came back with the herbs she needed, Wyn told her what Mrs Danvers had said. 
    ‘I’ll go and see her now,’ she said.  ‘Carry on with the rest of the vegetables until I get back.’  William walked into the kitchen and Wyn told him about the hunt. 
    ‘What will you have to do?’ she asked him. 
    ‘Just look after the guests,’ he said.  ‘The groom has most of the responsibility during a hunt so they better find a new one soon.  We might get a chance to go off on our own.’  He winked at her and walked out of the kitchen.  Wyn felt a shiver go down her body at the thought of being alone with him.  Get a grip of yourself she thought, it won’t do to keep thinking like this.
    Later that day Wyn saw a lot of activity around the stables.  Betty told her that Mr Charles was seeing possible grooms.  ‘I’ve seen some very nice lads milling around.’  They slipped out of the kitchen and crept round the side of the house heading towards the corner of the stable block to try and see what was happening.  They saw Mr Charles with a man of about twenty years old.  He had curly blond hair and a rugged face.  His body looked very fit and muscular.  He wasn’t very tall but then most grooms weren’t. He mounted Mr Charles’s horse Nero who was a very large stallion with a lot of spirit and a mind of his own.  He needed a lot of controlling.  As the man mounted him, he took off towards the field at high speed. 
    ‘Oh no!’ exclaimed Wyn, ‘he’s going to fall off.’ 
    Just as she said that the man got Nero under control and brought him back to Mr Charles.  ‘Well done lad,’ Mr Charles said, ‘you did very well with him.  You have the job if you want it.’ 
    ‘Thanks,’ said the man, ‘I’d like that.’ 
    ‘Right,’ Mr Charles said, ‘I’ll get William to show you where you sleep and anything else you need to know.’
    Wyn and Betty got back to the house just as William was bringing him inside. 
    ‘This is Ned Broom,’ he said.  ‘He’s the new groom.’ 
    Ned looked at them, ‘it’s nice to meet all of you,’ he said.  He looked at Betty in such a way that her cheeks started turning a pink colour. 
    Wyn nudged her and whispered, ‘he likes you.’ 
    ‘Don’t be daft,’ replied Betty, ‘he’s just got here and is getting his bearings.’ 
    ‘If you say so,’ replied Wyn with a smile.  ‘This summer just got even better.  We could all go around together.  Four is safer than two.’ 
    Betty just looked at her and exclaimed, ‘you’re daft you are.’
    Mayday finally dawned.  Wyn and Betty were so excited because they thought it was going to be such fun. There was going to be a fair, parade, dances, and lots of floral decorations.  They had got up very early in the morning and had been out picking flowers to decorate the house with.  They heard Mrs Davis shouting and ran to find out what had happened. 
    ‘Where are the pies I made earlier?’ she asked.  ‘I put them on the window ledge to cool and now they’ve gone.  Someone around here is