‘I was sick when I woke up,’ Ruby answered innocently. ‘But I feel all right now. I think I must have got Miss Miranda’s cold.’

Cook was stirring a large pan of porridge on the stove and gave her a funny look but then shook her head before going back to what she had been doing. Morning sickness usually meant one thing, but then she told herself, Ruby was as innocent as they came and not much more than a child herself so it couldn’t be that, and she pushed the thought to the back of her mind.

However, when the same thing happened the following morning, her fears were raised again and she asked softly, ‘Have you started your monthly courses yet, bab?’

Ruby nodded and pulled a face. ‘Yes, I started them a few months ago just before my mam . . .’ She bit her lip and blinked back tears as she thought of the woman she had loved. ‘They’re horrible but me mam told me all girls have them.’

‘She was quite right.’ Cook nodded. ‘And do you have them regular like?’

Ruby paused in the act of loading Miranda’s tray. She was staying in bed for breakfast again, which Ruby guessed would probably mean another day of her running up and down the stairs to wait on her. ‘I, er, don’t think I have had one for a while, now I come to think of it,’ she said thoughtfully. ‘Is that normal?’

‘Oh, I’m sure it is if you’ve not long started,’ Cook assured her, but she was gravely concerned. Could it be that this girl wasn’t as innocent as she had thought? Only time would tell.

At the mistress’s insistence, the doctor called to see Miranda later that morning and Ruby stood outside the bedroom door while he examined her. ‘Not much wrong with her,’ he told Miss Wood and Ruby. ‘She’s just got a chill. Keep her warm and make sure she drinks plenty of liquids and she should be right as rain in a day or two.’

Miss Wood followed him downstairs to show him out as Ruby went into the bedroom to see if there was anything that Miranda wanted. The second she stepped through the door, the girl snapped peevishly, ‘Go and get me a jug of lemonade immediately, and make sure it’s cold. The doctor told me I’m very ill and must drink plenty of liquids.’

Ruby knew she was exaggerating but she whisked off to do as she was told just the same. The rest of the day followed much the same pattern with Ruby rushing here and there collecting books, magazines and anything else Miranda demanded to keep her occupied and by evening Ruby was exhausted.