It isn’t the first time that Georgia has made sudden decisions and Tess is getting used to expecting the unexpected: getting the kitchen plastered out of the blue, going to an apparently excellent folk concert where the band sang entirely in Welsh, walking up Blackford Hill at dawn for the solstice. She half expects Georgia to come home one day with bright pink hair, just because she wants to see what it feels like.

‘I’m wondering about taking his medals with me. What do you think?’

‘You could.’

‘I’m not sure.’ Georgia spins the inner ring around its brass racetrack on her finger. ‘I don’t know if there is an accepted protocol for these things.’

‘I expect that whatever you choose to do will be fine.’

‘And there is something else.’ Georgia twists around in her seat and picks a box up from the dresser. ‘I need your opinion about this.’

‘That’s the jewellery box that was locked. We couldn’t open it.’

‘Yes, but remember the other box, the one with the key inside that Annie put in the range oven for safekeeping?’

‘Yes.’

‘I found the little key again last night when I was getting my things organised for going away. Look what I found.’ Georgia puts the key into the jewellery box lock and turns it. The lid springs open. ‘See? It’s another letter. I’m not sure what to do with it.’

Tess picks up the envelope. ‘Isn’t this the same handwriting that was on the letter from Beatrice Sidcup?’

‘I think so. I tried putting them side by side and they look the same to me.’

‘It’s still sealed.’

‘I know. It’s strange to think she is actually my grandmother.’

‘What are you going to do with it?’

‘I’m not sure. It’s addressed to Finlay, and it’s postmarked as the third of July 1916. I looked in Annie’s diary for that year to see if there are any clues and there’s a list of the dates when he was on leave. He was here in the house at the end of June, and then he went back to France. He was posted as missing a few days after that.’

‘So, if it is from Beatrice Sidcup, she might have hoped it would reach him before he left?’

‘It’s all guesswork.’

Tess turns the envelope over. ‘I wonder why it’s never been opened.’ She hands it back.