Ursula sat up straighter in the chair. ‘There’s a five-pound fine for not completing the form correctly, but I wasn’t here so it wasn’t necessary for me to be listed. Although in point of fact if I don’t want to appear on the records I should not be back in the house before noon today.’ She looked at Isobel. ‘But if you don’t tell anyone, and I go straight to bed before Finlay and Ann catch sight of me, they will never know. I can’t see Mr Black giving the game away, and if I am discovered, despite my efforts, and have to pay a fine then I will take the money from my savings. I don’t expect anyone else to do that for me.’

‘I think you are very brave. I’m not sure I would have the nerve.’

‘Truth be told, I’m not sure I’ll do anything like it ever again. And I’m very pleased to hear that you would vote if you had the opportunity.’ Ursula laced her fingers around the warm cup and sipped her cocoa. ‘I’ve been thinking about it a lot, and there are other ways I can make a difference. For a start, I can make sure that Ann is educated about things, not just about how to choose a husband and entertain at an afternoon tea party. She should have a career in something she loves.’

Weariness made Ursula forget the social boundaries her mother had instilled in her. ‘I was never encouraged to have ambitions in that way. My father didn’t object to me working, but my mother didn’t approve at all. She said it was unnecessary and unladylike and it would stop me finding a husband. She was furious when I went to help in an office for a friend of the family, but I discovered the work suited me so I moved to another company where I had a salary, and then another one, and that made her even more cross. She was a good person. I loved her dearly, and she just wanted me safely married and settled. But she was from a different time and she didn’t like change. If I hadn’t gone out to work, I would never have met Mr Black.’ She took another sip of cocoa. ‘But I think she would be happy if she could see me now, and that’s something, I suppose.’

Isobel didn’t want to interrupt; she had wondered for a long time how it was that Ursula had ended up moving the four hundred miles north.