She dared a smile. ‘I hadn’t quite worked that out, to be entirely honest with you.’

‘I see. And is there anything else you want to do that I should or should not know about?’

She decided to strike while the iron was hot. ‘There are two things.’

‘Go on.’

‘First, I think that Ann should read the newspaper, some parts of it anyway. I can find things during the day that are suitable and she can read it when she comes home.’

John nodded his agreement. ‘And we can discuss them over dinner, which will be far more interesting to me than the colour of her new hair ribbons. And the second thing?’

‘I need your permission to do this.’

He raised his eyebrows. ‘My permission?’

‘Well, not exactly, but you always deal with the money in the house. You give me a housekeeping allowance but I don’t know how much else there is.’

‘You want me to show you the bank account?’

‘No. But I need you to increase the allowance.’

‘Why?’

‘Because I want to pay Isobel more than we do now. She isn’t just a maid. She is doing more of the cooking and making a good job of it. And to allow her to do that, we also need to buy some equipment so that her other chores don’t take as long.’

‘Equipment?’

Ursula saw that it was an all-or-nothing moment. ‘There has been nothing new since Louise died. There are new kitchen appliances for sale now. But they use electricity.’

‘You think we should have electricity installed in the house?’

‘I do.’ Ursula pointed at the gas-lit glass globes on the walls. ‘We would have better lighting and everything would be more efficient, and it would be cleaner and less work. This is a new and exciting world and we must be part of it.’

He smiled.

‘You agree with all these things?’

‘I will need to make enquiries about the electricity, but yes, I agree.’ He lifted his book back up and slid the postcard into the back page, ready to use again. ‘Just promise me that you will be safe on census night. Your well-being is the most important consideration.’

Chapter 16

Monday 3 April 1911

The sun was barely up when Ursula returned to 25 Library Terrace on the Monday morning after the census. The lock on the door to the scullery at the back of the house was stiff and she had deliberately taken the key with her the previous evening in case she had needed to get back in the middle of the night without waking everyone. Or at least, that had been her plan, but it wasn’t working out that way.

The hinges squeaked as she pushed the door open and when she stepped into the scullery, she was met by a startled Isobel, rolling pin aloft.