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Georgiana pulled weakly at her nightdress. ‘Let me feed her.’

‘Oh, love, don’t do this to yourself, I beg of you. Don’t get attached to her. The wet nurse is here. Let her feed her.’

It was to no avail. Georgiana moved the child, and she latched immediately, sucking strongly. Georgiana winced, then smiled and touched her fingers to the tiny, wet head as tears fell softly and steadily.

‘We lived,’ she whispered to the child. ‘We lived.’

A sob caught Liz, and she put her hands to her face. The pain was unbearable. How would Georgiana bear it? How could she?

Georgiana’s smile widened. ‘I shall name her Eliza. Eliza Courtney, for my mother.’

‘Her father may have a name for her,’ Liz said through her tears. ‘Grey will be here shortly to take her. Georgiana…’

‘I don’t care what her father says. Her name is Eliza Courtney.’

The clock struck midnight, and Liz slid into bed beside Georgiana. She pulled the bedcovers up around them both, baby Eliza between them. The child was sleeping peacefully, as was the rest of the household.

‘Is Caroline asleep?’ Georgiana asked.

Liz nodded, grateful anew for her friend’s kindness in accepting her daughter Caroline into her household. Kindness in that Georgiana’s husband, the duke, was Caroline’s father. The three of them rubbed along together well these days. To the rest of the world, Caroline was Caroline St Jules, but the three of them knew the truth and it had become a comfortable arrangement which made the duke’s decision to banish Georgiana to bear a child that was not his all the more hurtful. To force Georgiana to give her child up, simply brutal.

‘I have had a letter sent to tell Canis we are ready to return to England,’ Liz said, leaning back against the pillow.

Georgiana smiled at her use of their nickname for the duke, borne from his love of his dogs. ‘Thank you,’ she murmured. ‘Has Bess gone?’

Georgiana’s sister, Lady Henrietta, or Bess, on account of her being the Countess of Bessborough, had left, with much reluctance, to head towards Italy at the insistence of her husband.

‘She has, love.’

Georgiana too laid back against the pillow, her face sad at the loss of her beloved sister’s company. Bess had promised to support Georgiana through the birth, but now the child was here, she was missing.

Liz took her hand and squeezed it. ‘Only because her husband is wickedly unkind to her and made her go. You know your sister would never willingly leave you.’

Georgiana nodded and closed her eyes. Liz was furious with Georgiana’s sister, for not staying, for not lending her sister the support she needed. She had long thought that what Bess needed was a lover. A good one. Not the idiot poet she had a dalliance with.

The child stirred, and they both looked down at her.

‘She’s so beautiful,’ Georgiana whispered. ‘She’s so like him, so like Charles.’

‘She is lovely,’ Liz agreed, and as she did so, Georgiana wept silently, tears falling down her cheeks without cease.

Liz held her tightly, baby Eliza between them, and rocked her. It was all she could do because on the morrow, the baby’s father would take her. Take her from her mother, from the Cavendish family, and send her to his family in Northumberland, who would raise her.

‘I want her to know me,’ she said, voice jerky with distress. ‘I want her to know her sisters and her brother. I want her to know Little Gee, Haryo, and Hart. I want her to know we love her.’

‘Hush now. Charles will love her because he loves you. She will know her new family, and she will be loved.’

Liz kissed Georgiana’s head and held her tightly. ‘Christmas is almost here,’ she said.

Georgiana nodded. ‘It will never be the same, will it?’

‘It will always remind us of Eliza and how we held her and loved her.’

Between them, the baby fussed, so Liz sang. She sang a French Christmas song that she had heard the staff sing quietly. The revolutionaries were closing churches, so no-one dare sing them aloud.

Liz held them both and sang ‘Noel Nouvelet’ quietly until they slept. It was all she could do.

Liz passed baby Eliza back to Georgiana. Clean and fed, she was now dressed in a beautiful gown with a lace bonnet surrounding her pretty little face. Georgiana checked the bag that held the child’s things, then held her tightly and kissed her cheek before burying her face in the child’s neck.