Isobel looked straight back at Ursula. ‘Because the late Mrs Black was not very kind towards her and I didn’t want her to get into trouble.’

‘Not very kind? I don’t believe what I am hearing.’ John turned furiously to Ann. ‘Why did you take it?’

‘I didn’t!’ Ann protested. ‘I’ve never even been up the stairs to Isobel’s room. I wouldn’t dare.’

‘Well, this is a full-scale mystery and no mistake,’ said Finlay, stating the obvious.

Isobel sighed. ‘It was the late Mrs Black.’

‘I beg your pardon!’ John was on his feet now. ‘You are accusing my wife, my late wife, of theft?’

‘I saw the coin in her jewellery box one day when she was getting ready to go out. It had the same hole, just above the Queen’s head. She knew that I had seen it and she just closed the box. And you may as well know, she used to come into my room when I was out.’

‘You must surely be mistaken.’

‘No, sir, I am not.’ Isobel looked back at him steadily. ‘I would find things had been moved.’

John shook his head. ‘I do not believe it.’

‘What was moved?’ Finlay’s voice cut through his father’s anger.

‘All sorts of things. My pillows were turned over. My sheets untucked. My shoes pulled away from the wall and put the wrong way around. One time a clean apron was taken from my drawer and then it reappeared a few weeks later beside the wash stand, all crumpled. It wasn’t anything I could complain about. But I knew she had been there.’

‘Why would she do this?’ said John.

‘Power,’ said Finlay.

His father looked at him in astonishment. ‘Explain yourself!’

‘It was to show she was in charge. No one could complain because there would be a huge fuss and we would be the ones in the wrong. She did it with my books.’ He demonstrated with his hands. ‘I would find my encyclopaedias with one book in the wrong place, so they were out of alphabetical order, or sometimes one volume would be replaced upside down. The pencils I had just sharpened would all be just a little bit blunt the next day. Once, she read my letters; I could tell because the paper was folded back in the opposite direction. The creases were in new places. She did it like that on purpose so it would be obvious to me but not to anyone else. It was her way of showing us that she could do what she wanted and go through our private things and we couldn’t stop her. With everything else going on, especially when she was unwell, I didn’t want to make a fuss. I tried to forget.’ He looked at his father. ‘She never did this to you?’