He taps the wall above the mantelpiece. ‘It would have to be smokeless fuel now. There are rules. It will depend on the state of your chimney, but maybe for occasional use it would be alright. I don’t think you’d be wanting to cook on it all the time, even if you were allowed to.’

‘Isobel used to make some amazing meals on it.’

‘Isobel?’

‘She was the maid, or at least she was when Annie was a child. She and Annie became good friends but they were pretty competitive in the baking department.’

Tess is still none the wiser about exactly how Annie and Georgia are connected.

Stan leans to right and left to stretch his back. ‘There are three of us now. Maybe with some effort we could get the rest of that hardboard and plaster away and let the dog see the rabbit, so to speak. Might as well do it while you’ve still got that skip outside.’

‘I bought some of those extra-strong rubbish sacks when I was doing the groceries,’ Tess offers. ‘Looks as though they’re going to come in useful.’

Stan wiggles the hammer to loosen it, and as it comes away, another cloud of plaster dust escapes from the wall. He passes it to Georgia. ‘Don’t go at it too hard. With any luck we might be able to pull the rest of the board away.’

Georgia hesitates.

‘Can I just get Baxter into the house?’ says Tess. ‘I don’t really want him left on his own outside, he might be frightened.’

‘The famous Baxter!’ says Stan. ‘I’ve heard a lot about him. Perhaps we can get to know one another later.’

Tess goes back outside and unhooks the lead. She bends down and scratches Baxter’s head. ‘I don’t want you getting splinters in your paws,’ she whispers, ‘so we’ll go in through the front door and you can sit in the drawing room.’

She arrives back in the kitchen in time to hear Stan giving instructions. ‘Come on, lass. It’s your house, your kitchen. You’re the only one here who remembers it, so it seems only right that you should be the one to let us see it again.’