‘She could lock me in. And even if I had a key, I couldn’t get out. She did that to make sure I was too frightened to go up to my room during the day. To make sure I was working all the time. She would lock it in the morning when I came down and not unlock it again until after eight o’clock at night. And then when she got bored of that, she stuffed all the paper in so anyone could come up at any time. Not that they did, but it was another way to make me worry.’

Ursula shook her head. ‘I cannot imagine why you stayed.’

‘I told you. It was because of the children. I knew that if she was doing this to me then she was almost certainly practising so she could do it to them.’ Isobel looked down at her new key. ‘Especially Miss Ann. It wasn’t a secret that she had never wanted a daughter, and she blamed her for the troubles.’

‘Troubles?’

‘Women’s troubles. She never said what they were but it was seemingly Miss Ann’s fault. She was born so quickly that I think there was, well, I think there was an injury, you know. And she wasn’t the same afterwards.’ Isobel surveyed the clean scullery. ‘But that’s enough of the past, don’t you think? If there’s nothing else, I’ll eat my supper, and then I can get on with laying the table for breakfast.’

*

After she had eaten the pie and the slice of flan, and had done the last of her chores, Isobel went in search of Ursula and found her sitting in the dining room. Evening sunshine stretched long shadows across the table.

‘I need to speak with you, Mrs Black. I haven’t properly thanked you for the lock and the door knocker.’

Ursula put down her pencil and closed her diary. ‘You are very welcome. It’s the least we could do for you.’

‘It’s just . . .’ Isobel was distinctly uncomfortable about something.

‘Go on.’

‘Well, it’s just that after I saw my friend this afternoon, I went to see about a new position. With everything that’s happened I wasn’t sure if you really wanted me to stay. I needed to see if there was another house that would offer me a place so I went for an interview. Someone told me there is a big household in the Grange who are looking for a maid and that the family are good, you know?’ Isobel looked past Ursula and fixed her eyes on the clock on the mantelpiece. From ten feet away she could see that the dark wooden case needed dusting.

‘And were you offered the job?’

‘I was. Subject to references, of course.’

Ursula felt her stomach tighten. ‘When are you leaving us?’

‘I haven’t decided about it.’