Maggie caught his eye and raised her eyebrows. He had to smile. They were thinking the same thing: Lady Ashford’s ‘favours’ could be dangerous. As long as it was nothing to do with getting on a horse …

* * *

A little while later, Mrs Nicholls arrived with Rudi, who, if Ray had understood right, was living with her now. Lady Ashford went into raptures about the child, which was queer, Ray thought. If she loved the little boy that much, why did she spend so much time away from him? But maybe that was how posh folk loved their children, at a distance.

They all sat together in the drawing room.

Lady Ashford seemed out of sorts. If he had to describe it, Ray would have said she was sulking. As she sat on the settee with Lord Ashford, there was a gap between them and her arms were crossed. Perhaps they’d had a row.

When it was time for the presents, her Ladyship cheered up a little as she handed out little parcels for everyone, wrapped in cloth.

‘Now, they’re only a few tokens!’ she said. There was soap and hand cream (‘from my stash!’) for Maggie and Gwen and for the men, Reader’s Union books, scarves and calendars.

‘Rudi has some presents that he’d like to give out,’ Mrs Nicholls said. ‘He insisted on wrapping them himself, in secret, so I don’t know what any of them are!’ She lowered her voice. ‘Only little bits and bobs, I expect.’

‘How delightful!’ Lady Ashford patted the space beside her on the plush sofa. ‘Rudi, come and sit with me, up here.’

The first present was for Ray.

He got up from his seat and took the little parcel from Rudi. It was a pencil – a rather blunt pencil, at that – undoubtedly filched from the banking hall or perhaps even his Nibs’ office. ‘Thank you, Rudi. Most kind,’ Ray said with a small bow.

‘Some of the gifts are wrapped in newspaper, I’m afraid,’ Mrs Nicholls said. ‘We ran out of brown paper.’

Lady Ashford’s present was an acorn. She gasped and put her hand to her chest. ‘It’s the sweetest thing! Oh, Rudi! That’s my best Christmas present ever!’

‘This one?’ Mrs Nicholls asked and Rudi whispered in her ear. ‘This one he says is for Maggie.’

Ray’s heart went out to her, she blushed and looked so self-conscious, as everyone watched her struggle with the string on the tiny package.

‘I wonder what it can be?’ Maggie said. She shook it and frowned and Rudi laughed, enjoying the game. ‘Could it be a feather, maybe? It’s ever so light!’

As she pulled it apart, Maggie gasped. She unfolded something and held it up for everyone to see. Ray saw a flash of white paper and then the words Bank of England.

It was a creased and rather battered one-pound note.