‘I met the young mistress earlier on,’ he said conversationally as he speared a carrot on his fork. ‘Not the prettiest of girls, is she?’ Then realising that he was probably being cruel he rushed on, ‘Although she seemed friendly enough.’

‘That’ll be a first, then,’ Cook chortled. ‘She normally speaks to the staff like they’re dirt on her shoes. You should think yourself lucky – or perhaps she’s taken with you?’ she teased.

Bill blushed a dull brick red. ‘I wouldn’t think so,’ he said, clearly embarrassed.

Cook looked highly amused. ‘Whyever not? You’re a good-lookin’ lad, Bill. An’ you’ll be better still when I’ve fattened you up a bit.’

Ruby giggled. Oh, she did like the staff here and it was even better now that Bill had joined them. The only dark spot on the horizon was her young mistress, but there wasn’t much she could do about that.

As if thoughts of her had conjured her up from thin air, Miranda suddenly breezed into the kitchen and the staff immediately all fell silent and laid their knives and forks down.

‘Ah, Cook.’ She gazed straight at Bill while speaking to Mrs Baxter. ‘My father and I were wondering if we might have a little more gravy?’

‘Well, o’ course you can, miss. But you only had to ring the bell.’ Cook was flabbergasted. She could never remember Miranda doing this before but it seemed that she’d hit the nail on the head when she’d teased Bill about her fancying him, because the girl couldn’t take her eyes off him.

‘Why don’t you go back through to the dinin’ room and I’ll get Betty to bring some through straightaway?’

‘Oh, it’s quite all right. I can wait,’ Miranda responded with a simpering smile aimed at Bill.

Cook quickly heaved herself up, hurried to the range, filled another gravy boat and handed it to Miranda saying, ‘Now, mind you don’t spill it down you, miss.’

‘Thank you.’ Miranda breezed back out the way she had come and for a moment silence reigned before they all began to chuckle.

‘Well, I suppose there’s a first time for everythin’,’ Betty said. ‘I’ve never heard that little miss be so reasonable.’

Over the next few days, Miranda seemed to be constantly strolling around the gardens or coming into the kitchen unannounced whenever she thought Bill might be there, much to the amusement of the staff.

‘It’s a wonder she don’t wear a sign round her neck sayin’ “I fancy you”,’ Cook teased Bill but he took it all good-naturedly and kept out of her way as much as he could.