AS THE MOST IMPORTANT political realignments in a generation played themselves out in Westminster, Margot went off to Easton Grey to hunt and stay out of the way during the confinement that Laura was expecting after eleven months of marriage. Saturday, 17 April 1886, was a good day for hunting – hot and sunny, Margot recalled – ‘and the woods were full of children’. That morning in the field was also the last day of her old life. She was riding through a forest with one of her suitors, separated from the pack. Turning to rejoin the chase, her horse misjudged a jump and she was knocked unconscious when a tree branch caught her square in the face. Her companion scooped her up and took her to a farmer's cottage. Margot had suffered another head injury, but given her sensitivity to women's looks, she was probably more distressed to find her face disfigured by a broken nose and torn lip that required stitches. The accident altered her appearance, and for months her friends noted side effects that would now be seen as typical of concussion. But Margot's uncontrollable moods and inability to concentrate could equally have been the result of an overwhelming grief.

Though Margot did not know it until after her accident, Laura was in dire circumstances in the same hours. The delivery of her baby during the night before had not gone well. According to Lady Tennant, the doctors began giving Laura chloroform on Friday afternoon, but she had been sleepless and in pain for two days before that. ‘Laura is so slow’, her mother wrote. ‘She has not had a smile for a long time, and looks dreadfully worn. I am glad Alfred has been away all day … now past 5 … I feel worn too with anxiety.’ After a ‘fearful struggle’ involving obstetrical instruments, Alfred Christopher Lyttelton was born in the early morning hours. Telegrams flew across the countryside announcing the safe outcome, and Charles Tennant left the city to spend Easter week in Glasgow. Two days later Laura's condition deteriorated. A ‘dreadful bleeding from the liver began, blood coming from her mouth every twenty minutes or so; she became utterly unconscious, and remained so all through Tuesday.’