‘You think something new might be welcomed?’

‘It might be, as long as people aren’t set against it from the start.’

‘You mean Finlay.’

Isobel smiled. ‘As long as Master Finlay has a nice pudding, he’ll be happy. That’s the way to his heart.’

‘I do hope so, because he’s not making life very easy for me at the moment.’ Ursula realised that her private thoughts on the matter had slipped out into the room. She hastened to change the subject. ‘Now, we need to make some preparations for the birthday girl’s big day tomorrow. Ann has asked for drop scones in the morning, with syrup, which seems simple enough. I’ve ordered a cake from the baker on Morningside Road and it will be delivered this afternoon to the scullery door so Miss Curious doesn’t see it arriving. I know you’ll be out, so I’ll sit here in the kitchen and wait for it. I assume there is enough space for me to hide it in the larder?’

‘I could have made a cake.’

‘I know you could, but you would have spent your afternoon off doing it and that would not be fair.’ Ursula was determined that Isobel’s Saturday afternoon off should remain sacrosanct. ‘What about the food for tomorrow afternoon?’

‘I’ll do that in the morning. I think you said there are three girls coming? There will be the cake, of course, and I’ll make a big plate of cheddar cheese sandwiches with plenty of Marmite. That’s her favourite. She would lick the knife I use for the spreading if she got half a chance.’

Chapter 18

Sunday 9 April 1911

Ursula didn’t believe in making people wait all day for their birthday presents. She had called Finlay into the parlour the night before and explained that he must be up, dressed, and in the dining room at eight o’clock, and not a minute later, even though it was Sunday, and he would normally have been a little slower to rise. He wasn’t impressed but the sight of his father on the other side of the room had quelled any objections he might have otherwise voiced.

By a little after seven, Ursula was downstairs. She helped Isobel make the batter for the drop scones and went through to the dining room one last time just before eight o’clock to make sure everything looked pretty. As requested, John and Finlay were sitting at the dining table, on time, waiting slightly impatiently for Ann to wake up and get out of bed. Isobel had been tasked with going outside to knock on the front door very energetically at five past eight, and if that failed, she was going to ring the bell a few times. It was only a couple of minutes after the loud banging when they heard the first squeak of the floorboards on the landing upstairs.

‘Hello?’