Rosie stood alongside her mother. She’d been told to put on her best clothes and had protested while Harriet put a ribbon in her hair. She hated the ribbon, it made her look like a child. The big pink satin bow hung down at the side of her head and irritated her, as she stood in front of the camera with her mother and siblings. She tried to smile, as her Uncle James made silly comments so that they all laughed, but it didn’t help that Jane was standing at the back of the room looking every inch the young lady, while in her own eyes Rosie looked stupid. But she tried her best. The sooner it was over, the sooner she could go home, so she forced a smile as the shot was taken.

‘There, that wasn’t too bad now, was it, children?’ Harriet looked round at her family and ushered them off the make-believe set of a grand house, and smiled as Isabelle took baby Georgina from her arms. ‘Rosie, are you going to go with Jane? I think she wants to show you around the firm. I’m going to have tea with Aunt Isabelle and will take Ben and Georgina with me; you can both join us when you’ve seen enough.’

Jane looked almost as excited about taking Rosie under her wing as Rosie herself did. In truth, neither girl particularly liked the other, but both knew they had to be polite in their parents’ company.

‘Yes, Mama.’ Rosie walked over to Jane, who scowled at her as she opened the door, leaving the adults talking and Ben seeing how the camera worked with his Uncle James.

‘Don’t you think you are a bit too old for wearing ribbons?’ Jane looked at her cousin and smirked. ‘I haven’t worn ribbons since I left school.’

Rosie reached her hand up to her hair and pulled the offending satin bow out of her blonde locks. ‘Mama made me wear it. I hate the thing.’ She shoved the ribbon into her pocket and walked down the stairs onto the shop floor, trying to walk as elegantly as her cousin. ‘Is Luke not here today?’ Rosie enquired.

‘All Luke thinks about at the moment is the Officers’ Training Corps that he’s volunteered for. He’s always down at Giggleswick School, even in his holidays. And if he’s not there, he’s over at the outdoor range they’ve got at Attermire Scar. He’s even got his own rifle. Mother hates seeing him cleaning it; she’s frightened he will fire the thing, even though he’s told her that he is allowed only blank cartridges.’ Jane stopped at the bottom of the stairs and waited for her cousin. ‘Luke’s not fit to look after himself, let alone be in possession of a gun, if you ask me.’