On the lawn below, Miss Sharp and the others were doing Keep Fit. They’d missed out on Sunday’s session, just as she and Ray had missed out on riding the tandem, due to rain and Miss Sharp had suggested doing it this morning, instead.

Although it had finally stopped raining, there was dew on the grass and a low mist over the distant ridge of hills. Conditions weren’t ideal. No doubt, Elsie would complain about being chilled for the rest of the day.

‘Did you not fancy it, then?’ a voice asked through the open bedroom door. It was Mrs Mason. Another woman was standing behind her in the corridor. They were holding armfuls of laundry.

‘No,’ Mrs Mason added, stepping into the room, ‘I dare say you’ve got too much sense.’

Maggie blinked. That was as close to a compliment as she’d ever had from the older woman.

They joined Maggie at the window and peered down. The women were dressed in their Keep Fit outfits of white satin leotards and black shorts. Their feet and legs were bare.

Mrs Mason tutted. ‘They’re practically naked! They’ll catch their death!’ She placed the washing down on Pam’s unmade bed and Maggie glimpsed a bandage around Mrs Mason’s wrist.

The girls were performing a backstroke motion with their arms. Maggie wasn’t sure which was funnier, the girls’ movements or the housekeeper’s outrage. She had to stifle a giggle.

‘Where’s their shoes? I ask you! There was a frost out there this morning!’ The housekeeper shook her head.

‘Oh, that won’t trouble Miss Sharp,’ Maggie said. ‘She likes the cold!’

It was a wonder their supervisor didn’t insist on opening all the windows while they were working. They were only spared on account of his Lordship’s precious artwork, which, fortunately, had to be preserved from extreme temperatures.

Now the women were lying on their backs on blankets, pedalling their legs.

‘They’ve got very nice pins,’ Maggie murmured.

‘That’s just what was going through my mind,’ said the woman next to Mrs Mason, with a smile. ‘Perhaps there’s something in it. We shall have to try it! I’m Gwen, by the way. I’m helping Maureen out.’

Gwen shifted the pile of linen in her arms and shook Maggie’s hand. ‘You must be one of the bank girls.’ She laughed. ‘Maureen begged me to take the job here. She said Snowden was “overrun with cockneys”!’

Mrs Mason grunted and rolled her eyes.

It was strange to think of Mrs Mason as ‘Maureen’ and even stranger to find that she had a pal, Gwen, who knew her well enough to use her first name and to tease her.

‘I’m Maggie,’ she said. ‘Very pleased to meet you.’