‘The owner of the last company I worked at was often the worse for a bottle of wine at lunchtime. He was late for every meeting. One afternoon I needed to hold the fort for an hour, as usual, and Mr Black arrived for his appointment. I had to make excuses and be polite, and by the time the owner came back from his lunch I had inadvertently convinced Mr Black to buy his supplies from another business entirely. A few weeks later he wrote to me and offered me a job. It was around the time when the late Mrs Black started to become unwell and he was quite distracted. He said he wanted a safe pair of hands to run his office during a difficult time, and he offered to pay my train fare. I arrived at Waverley with two suitcases and I stayed in a boarding house for a month while I looked for somewhere to live. I started my life again, from nothing, really. My parents were both gone by then, and there was a small inheritance and nothing to keep me in London. Moving to Edinburgh was the biggest decision I’ve ever made in my life. Even bigger than getting married.’

Isobel didn’t know what to say, so she completely ignored the unexpected disclosure and simply nodded.

‘You must be tired after being out all night.’

‘I am, rather. I need to decide what to do next. I can write letters and deliver leaflets, but I don’t want to go to rallies or put myself out there in public. It’s not really me, I’m not . . .’ she hunted for the right word, ‘ . . . an exhibitionist.’ She drank more cocoa. ‘This is very good, thank you.’

‘You’re welcome.’

‘The other thing I can do is to look after you better. My conversations with the other women over the last few weeks have made me realise that.’

‘Me?’

‘You are my employee, and you live in my house and therefore I feel a sense of responsibility towards you. I have been discussing it with Mr Black and we have agreed that you will have an increase in your wage. And you will have a few hours off during the week as well as your Saturday afternoon. The fires will need to be done, of course, and the dinner made, but I see no reason why you shouldn’t have a little time to go to the library; there’s one on the end of the road after all. Or you may want to go and feed the ducks at Blackford Pond, or just walk along the street without a shopping bag in your hand and a list in your pocket.’

Isobel looked at Ursula in astonishment.