The smell of cinnamon and cloves escaped from the jar as it was opened and they both breathed it in. Isobel spooned the fruit into a white enamel pie dish. ‘If I save the juice and add a little more sugar, it would make a syrup, and we could have it poured over something else later in the week. Keith likes a pudding.’

‘Oh, do stop it. I get the message.’

Isobel lifted the pastry onto the rolling pin carefully, and flopped the sheet neatly onto the dish before trimming off the extra pieces with a knife and crimping the edges deftly between finger and thumb. Two slashes in the top and it was ready for the oven.

‘Right.’ Ann folded her arms. ‘You’ve obviously made your mind up about this already.’

Isobel rolled the cut-off strips of pastry into a ball and held it out on the palm of her hand. ‘Jam tarts? Or do you want to eat it raw, like you did before you were all grown up?’

Ann took the lump of dough. ‘You are avoiding giving me an answer.’ She pulled a small piece off and popped it into her mouth.

‘In most things, I do share what I think, and I’m grateful that you listen to my opinion. But in this situation we aren’t equal. It’s your house. And that means it’s your decision.’ She rubbed her hands together to dislodge the scraps of dough from between her fingers. ‘And a little bit of you thinks he isn’t good enough.’

Ann didn’t speak until she had eaten the rest of the pastry, one small torn piece after another. ‘Alright. I give up. I was wrong and I know that now, but you really aren’t helping.’

Instead of starting to clear up, Isobel sat down at the table, her hands clasped in front of her. ‘Very well, Miss Ann, you really want to know?’

‘I do, and less of the Miss, please; I am not a child any more.’

‘I think that this is a man who is struggling. He had started his own business and was doing alright until this awful depression came along and knocked him, and thousands of others all over the world, off their perches. He soon won’t have anywhere to live and his landlord isn’t willing to negotiate on the rent. We, on the other hand, live in your very large house. We don’t use the upstairs at all. Your bedroom was redecorated after the theatre fire, remember?’

‘I do.’