‘I shall go and look myself,’ she declared and barged past Miss Wood with a thunderous expression on her face.

As soon as she had gone, Betty opened her hand to expose the ring in her palm. ‘I saw the little madam sneakin’ into our room this mornin’ before she went down to breakfast,’ she confided. ‘I wondered at the time what she was doin’, an’ then when she asked if I’d looked under the mattress or the pillow, I knew she’d planted it there to get Ruby into trouble. It’s not the first time she’s got a maid dismissed by pullin’ this trick.’ Crossing to Miranda’s jewellery box she dropped the ring into it just as they heard Miranda stamping back along the landing.

‘Why don’t we check your jewellery box?’ Miss Wood said calmly. ‘You have so many lovely pieces you might just have overlooked it.’

‘I have not,’ Miranda spat. ‘She’s taken it, I tell you.’

Ignoring her, Miss Wood crossed to the ornate box and, opening it, she pretended to look closely inside before lifting the amethyst ring out. ‘Is this the one you thought was missing, miss?’

Miranda’s mouth gaped slackly open with shock but then her face twisted with rage. ‘It wasn’t there, I tell you!’

Miss Wood and Betty stared back at her.

‘Well, all is well that ends well,’ Miss Wood told her. ‘It’s very easy to overlook one piece when you have so many. Now, I suggest we all get back to work.’ And with that she turned and left the room with Betty close behind her.

Once they had gone, Ruby cringed as Miranda rounded on her. She was almost beside herself with rage knowing that her little trick had backfired and for a moment Ruby feared that she was going to hit her, but then she turned on her heel and stormed out of the room, slamming the door so resoundingly behind her that it danced on its hinges.

Once alone, Ruby began to cry. She had no idea why Miranda appeared to hate her so much. She had always done everything that was asked of her but now she realised that her days there might well be numbered. And then where would she go? She could never go back to the man she had thought was her father, nor to Maddie’s – she hadn’t even been to see her once since she’d been there, so clearly she didn’t miss her or care about how she was – so once again her future was uncertain and it was a terrifying thought.

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen

Downstairs in the workshop, Miss Wood briefly told Mr Pembroke what had happened upstairs, although she didn’t enlighten him to the fact that Miranda had planted the ring in Ruby’s room, merely that she had accused her of stealing it when it had been in her jewellery box all along.