‘Times are definitely changing, and a lot of people are going to be caught up in that.’ Ann walked over to the window, tiptoeing around the shards of glass. ‘But for now I’m just going to clear up this mess and wedge some thick card over the hole. That will have to do until the menfolk get back. I need to tidy my hair, and there’s the cake to make. It might still be warm when Mrs Stuckup gets here but that’s alright. It’s not the Jenners Tea Rooms she’s visiting.’

Chapter 47

October 1931

At three o’clock on the dot there was a knock on the front door. The wireless was back in its usual place on the kitchen dresser and Isobel turned it off as she walked past on her way to the hall.

‘What do you think you’re doing?’

Isobel looked down at her dress. ‘I’ve taken my apron off. Do I not look respectable enough?’

‘You look perfectly respectable. Now sit there and just wait.’

‘I’ll go upstairs into the parlour; she might hear me if I go up there.’ Isobel pointed at the stairs to the maid’s room.

‘You will do no such thing. I want a witness. I have no idea what this woman wants. And people always want something in circumstances like this. I need you to sit right here and be my ears. And please don’t bob up and down serving tea either; this is 1931 not 1831.’

The knock came a second time and Ann hurried away down the hall. The outer storm door was open, and she could see through the stained glass that there was a tallish figure waiting on the path. Despite her previously stated opinions, she was glad that the brass door knocker and the letterbox were polished, and the tiled vestibule smelled slightly of beeswax and lavender. She was not Finlay’s poor relation; she was the owner of this house and that suddenly mattered. It mattered a lot.

She glanced in the mirror. Keith was making her practise. Quick looks, not five-minute examinations. They had given up trying to get the rest of the knots out of her hair and Isobel, after much persuasion, had chopped fifteen inches off it in the kitchen the night before. She tucked a couple of escaped tendrils behind her ears and opened the door.

The woman outside was expensively and stylishly dressed, but she seemed unsure of herself. This was not what Ann was expecting at all.

‘Mrs Sidcup?’

The woman nodded.

Ann didn’t give her a chance to speak, but opened the door more widely and motioned her to come in. ‘May I take your things?’

‘I have an appointment to see Miss Black at three o’clock.’ The woman unbuttoned her coat and handed it over before removing the hatpin from her cloche and setting both down on the hall table.