‘There was never any legal basis for us caring for Cassie,’ Marie said. ‘We told everyone that we were adopting a baby through social services because that’s what the Grenvilles wanted. But although she’s never taken any interest, Joanna has always been her legal guardian. We have no rights. The social workers were prepared to approve the informal fostering arrangement because of the special circumstances. But in law I’m no more than a bloody nanny.’ The anger and bitterness which had been growing since she had received the letter from school on Friday gave force to the words.

‘Yes,’ Molly said quietly. ‘I see that. But what happened on Friday to bring matters to a head?’

‘Cassie came home for the weekend,’ Marie said. ‘ She comes home every weekend. This time she brought a letter from the school. It said that following instructions from Cassie’s mother they had made the appropriate arrangements to transfer her to a private residential school in Dorset. All her records had been sent on. They said they would miss Cassie and asked if I would like to go in to say goodbye to the staff before the end of term. There were no details in the letter. They assumed of course that I knew all about it.’

‘But you didn’t?’

‘No. It was a terrible surprise.’

‘What did you do?’ Molly asked.

‘I tried to talk to Joanna,’ Marie said. ‘I hoped she might change her mind if she saw how happy Cassie was with us. I wanted her to come to the cottage to see.’

‘That must have been at the library,’ Molly said. ‘And she wouldn’t listen to you?’

‘No,’ Marie said. ‘She wouldn’t listen.’

‘Did you tell Ursula?’ Molly asked suddenly. ‘She was here on Friday night after she’d been to the Cadver. Did you tell her then?’

Marie nodded. ‘ I was upset,’ she said. ‘She could see that, even though she was so angry. But I wouldn’t have told her about Cassie being Joanna’s daughter. I wouldn’t have broken the confidence after all this time.’

‘But she knew already,’ Molly said. ‘Didn’t she? Not that the Grenvilles were planning to send Cassie to school in Dorset, but that Joanna was her mother.’

Marie nodded. ‘That made it all right, somehow,’ she said. ‘ I showed her the letter, told her everything.’

‘What did she say?’ Molly asked.

‘That I wasn’t to worry. She would talk to Olivia Grenville and make her see how cruel it would be to move Cassie when she was so settled in Appleworth. She seemed to think that it was all Olivia’s idea.’

‘Did she give you the impression that she intended to see Olivia immediately, that night?’

‘I don’t know,’ Marie said. ‘She was angry and we’d both had a lot to drink. I don’t know what she intended to do.’