Maddie arrived home mid-afternoon with a broad smile on her face and looking like the cat who’d got the cream.

‘Looks like ’er fence gave ’er a good price for the latest lot,’ Nell whispered to Ruby as Maddie made for the kitchen.

Ruby frowned. What they had done still didn’t feel right but Nell seemed to accept that this was how Maddie made her living. ‘Is this fence person the one that comes to see her of an evening sometimes?’ she asked innocently.

Nell chuckled as she shook her head. ‘No, that’d be her fancy man. She’s been seein’ him fer years. She met ’im when she were on stage, apparently.’

‘On stage?’ Ruby’s eyes stretched wide. ‘Was she an actress then?’

‘No, a singer. An’ accordin’ to Mrs Petty, she were the darlin’ o’ the music halls at one time. That were when she took on the name Bamber. It ain’t her real name but she thought Madeline Bamber had a ring to it. I’ve no idea what her real name is though.’

‘So what made her give up singing?’

‘Here yer go askin’ questions again,’ Nell groaned, then glancing at the clock she said, ‘I’m off fer a lie-down fer an hour afore the evenin’ meal is ready. I’m out tonight.’

Ruby would dearly have loved to ask where she was going but didn’t dare. It was very frustrating: there was so much about these people she had come to live with that she didn’t know and she wondered if she ever would. As Nell disappeared through the door she sighed and went back to reading her book. There wasn’t much else she could do, with her ankle the way it was.

*

As it happened Maddie’s gentleman friend called that very night and Ruby found herself dispatched to the kitchen to keep Mrs Petty company, but not before she had caught sight of him through the hall window as he arrived in a beautiful carriage pulled by four matching grey stallions.

‘Maddie’s friend must be very rich to own a carriage like that,’ she commented.

Mrs Petty glanced up from her knitting and nodded. ‘Oh, he’s rich all right.’

‘So, do you think he and Maddie might get married?’

‘Married!’ Mrs Petty snorted with a shake of her head. ‘I should think there’s very little chance o’ that happenin’ when he already has a wife. I reckon she might have somethin’ to say about it, don’t you?’

‘Maddie’s friend is married?’ Ruby looked shocked. ‘So why does he come to see Maddie then?’