Ruby opened her mouth to protest but immediately clamped it shut again as shame burnt through her. After what Maddie had made her do, she was a thief, albeit a reluctant one. Tears pricked at the back of her eyes and, humiliated, she nodded. ‘Go ahead if you want. I’ve nothing to hide.’

Miranda snorted with satisfaction as she headed for the door and once on the landing, she shouted down the stairs, ‘Betty! Come here immediately.’

There were footsteps on the stairs and Betty, who had just arrived back at the house, appeared looking flummoxed. ‘Yes, miss?’

‘I want you to go and thoroughly search Ruby’s room,’ Miranda ordered. ‘An item of my jewellery has gone missing and I believe that she has taken it.’

Betty looked shocked. After sharing a room with Ruby since her arrival she had grown fond of her. The girl wouldn’t say boo to a goose and certainly didn’t seem the sort to steal, but she was in no position to tell Miranda that so she merely nodded.

‘Very well, miss. And may I ask what’s missin’?’

‘No, you may not. If it’s there you’ll find it, now go and get on with it this instant.’

Miss Wood appeared in the doorway and glancing at the clothes strewn about the floor, she asked, ‘Whatever is going on in here? I can hear the shouting from downstairs and your father is in his workshop trying to work, Miss Miranda.’

With a smug expression on her face, Miranda pointed at Ruby. ‘I believe she has stolen an item of jewellery from me and I’ve ordered Betty to go and search her room.’

‘I see.’ Miss Wood joined her hands and pressed them into her waist as she stared at Miranda coldly, then with a nod to Betty, she told her, ‘Go ahead and do as she asks, please.’

Clearly reluctant, Betty scuttled away, but as Miranda made to follow her, Miss Wood held her hand up. ‘I’m sure she can manage quite well on her own, Miss Miranda. We’ll just wait here, shall we?’

As the minutes ticked away, Ruby’s heart began to thud but at last they heard Betty returning and soon she appeared in the doorway. ‘It’s not in our room, miss. You must have mislaid it.’

Miranda’s face was a picture as colour flooded into her cheeks. ‘B-but it must be there! Who else could have taken it? Have you looked beneath her mattress and her pillow?’

Betty inclined her head. ‘Yes, miss, and everywhere else I could think of.’

‘I didn’t take anything from her,’ Ruby told them with a wobble in her voice. ‘I swear it.’

‘Then let’s just wait until it turns up, shall we? You have clearly misplaced it.’ Miss Wood held her hand out to Ruby but Miranda wasn’t finished yet.