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Chapters (56)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. Prologue
  4. Chapter One
  5. Chapter Two
  6. Chapter Three
  7. Chapter Four
  8. Chapter Five
  9. Chapter Six
  10. Chapter Seven
  11. Chapter Eight
  12. Chapter Nine
  13. Chapter Ten
  14. Chapter Eleven
  15. Chapter Twelve
  16. Chapter Thirteen
  17. Chapter Fourteen
  18. Chapter Fifteen
  19. Chapter Sixteen
  20. Chapter Seventeen
  21. Chapter Eighteen
  22. Chapter Nineteen
  23. Chapter Twenty
  24. Chapter Twenty-One
  25. Chapter Twenty-Two
  26. Chapter Twenty-Three
  27. Chapter Twenty-Four
  28. Chapter Twenty-Five
  29. Chapter Twenty-Six
  30. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  31. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  32. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  33. Chapter Thirty
  34. Chapter Thirty-One
  35. Chapter Thirty-Two
  36. Chapter Thirty-Three
  37. Chapter Thirty-Four
  38. Chapter Thirty-Five
  39. Chapter Thirty-Six
  40. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  41. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  42. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  43. Chapter Forty
  44. Chapter Forty-One
  45. Chapter Forty-Two
  46. Epilogue
  47. Acknowledgements
  48. Also by Rosie Goodwin
  49. About the Author
  50. Welcome to the world of Rosie Goodwin!
  51. Letter from Author
  52. Apple Charlotte
  53. The Precious Stones series
  54. The Days of the Week Collection
  55. Victorian Tales from Memory Lane
  56. Memory Lane Club

‘Oh, this is beautiful and worth a small fortune all on its own,’ she said greedily as she lifted the diamond necklace and peered at it closely. ‘And the quality of the diamonds is just superb.’ Until then Ruby hadn’t been aware that one diamond was any different from another but Maddie seemed to know what she was talking about. ‘I must teach you what to look for,’ Maddie said as she saw Ruby watching her. ‘When it comes to diamonds you must look for cut, carat, clarity and colour.’ She laid the necklace aside and began to look through the rest of the loot, again exclaiming at the colour of the stone in a sapphire ring. It reminded Ruby of the colour of the sea she had seen in picture books, although she had never seen the sea in real life. ‘This is stunning too and quite rare to get an oval cut in such a good-sized stone.’ One after the other she lifted and examined each piece before saying, ‘Well, accident aside, you’ve done extremely well for your first time, Ruby. I can see you’re going to be a great asset to us.’

Ruby’s heart sank as she realised Maddie was intimating that this would be the first of many times, and again the hopelessness of her situation came home to her. Would she rather stay here and become a thief or return to her father? She shuddered at the thought as Mrs Petty pressed a steaming mug into her hand, glaring at Maddie disapprovingly all the time. Ruby didn’t really have to think about it, for anything was preferable to going back to be abused again and so somehow, she was just going to have to try to get on with things, for now at least.

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

The morning after the burglary, Maddie was up and out bright and early. As Mrs Petty served the two girls their breakfast, she clucked her tongue disapprovingly. ‘She’s no doubt gone to see her fence; she’ll not want that stuff lyin’ around here just in case we get a visit from the police. Not that that’s likely,’ she added hastily as she saw the look of panic on Ruby’s face. ‘Maddie ain’t no fool; she always makes sure that there ain’t no way of them findin’ out she was involved in any wrongdoin’s.’