One airless afternoon my father called me into his office. He was standing at the window when I entered, looking down at the station and the gleaming train tracks that led away from it; he held a scrunched-up handkerchief in one hand, as if he’d been mopping his forehead before I came in.

‘Your mother tells me you’re thinking of leaving the firm,’ he said, keeping his back to me.

I leaned against the door, feeling the knob press into my spine. ‘Does she?’ Clearly she’d got impatient waiting for me to bring it up. I could picture her look of satisfaction as she dropped me in it, and felt a mix of anger and incredulity that she was involving herself in my life again now.

‘Is it true?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘Don’t stay on my behalf,’ he said to the window.

‘I don’t know what else I could do. I suppose Mother wants me to go into law and settle down with Lucy.’

‘She wants you to be happy.’

‘She has a funny way of showing it.’

‘It’s different for you young people.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘It’s hard for us, sometimes, to understand the world as it is right now. You have more freedoms than we ever did, but less – security, I suppose.’ He mopped his forehead again. ‘In my day, you joined a firm for life.’

‘I haven’t said I’m definitely leaving.’

‘I know,’ he said hurriedly. ‘I just want you to know why your mother might seem worried about your direction.’ He looked over his shoulder at me. ‘You won’t speak to her about this, will you? I don’t want to upset her.’

I had to stifle the urge to laugh. ‘I’m sure she won’t get upset.’

‘She’s not always as strong as she seems. I was there when she got the … news, you know?’ He turned back to the window, and I had to strain to hear what he said next. ‘She locked herself in her bedroom for days.’

‘What news?’

‘The telegram. You were just a baby at the time – you won’t remember.’

‘Her brother?’

‘She said it was her fault for not stopping him.’

I stayed silent, not wanting to argue with him. I knew Maud would have felt sorry for my mother, but as far as I could see it was another example of her neglecting me.

My father cleared his throat. ‘Well, let me know what you decide.’

‘I will.’