After that, every time Lionel paid a visit to Cheadle Manor, he saw the squire drift around its large, empty rooms in bewildered confusion, as the twentieth century stuck its bloody claws into his insular world and stripped it of its protective armour. His wife marshalled various women into an organised party of workers with the ruthless efficiency of an army general. The new era had marched boldly into their cocoon, braying its mechanical noise and brutality so loudly, it could no longer be denied.
