Mary and Jack left Rothsmere estate with mixed feelings: the Baron had been generous to both of them, Mary especially, and the money he had provided would ensure their future no matter what they wanted to do. Both of them felt that the ending had been too abrupt: he had thrown them adrift too quickly, too suddenly, without warning. What had happened to him? Mary, who had felt a connection to the Baron, was bereft: she was sure that she had meant something to Phillip but he had seemed to cast her aside. Despite their misgivings though, both looked forward to a new future, their comfort ensured.
They settled in a small town several miles from the Manor House and the estate. Marsden was a rural village, the railway still hadn't arrived there and Mary and Jack soon settled in a cottage at the edge of the village.
Mary had not known she was pregnant when she left the Hall, and in her innocence, despite her experiences, she did not know what the cessation of her monthly courses indicated. It was only after consultation with one of her older neighbours that she realised what this meant. Was the child she bore the child of Jack, or the Baron? She knew, from her basic arithmetic, that it probably wasn't Thomas's offspring, but was the child Jack's, or Phillip's?
She didn't know, and couldn't decide. As far as Jack was concerned, Mary was his, and so was the baby: they hadn't married, but for appearances sake, Mary used one of the Baron's sovereigns to buy a wedding ring.
The elderly neighbour had chuckled to Mary that now she had done her duty and fallen pregnant, she could throw Jack out of the bed for a while. Mary, however, felt more alive than ever: she blossomed during the pregnancy, and Jack realized that she had never looked so beautiful. Her breasts swelled, her nipples darkened and as the pregnancy progressed, they became exquisitely sensitive, so much so that she could barely touch them for fear of pleasure overwhelming her.