‘I think I can hear them firing when I’m at the top of Moughton Scar – at least, that’s what Ethan says it is. You can hear the guns distantly above the skylarks singing, they disturb the peace up there,’ Rosie said innocently.

‘You walk up Moughton Scar with Ethan! He’s only a stable boy, you know, you shouldn’t even talk to him.’ Jane looked with disdain as she weaved in and out of the customers, making her way to the warehouse and delivery bay.

‘Grandfather says we all come from the same maker, and no one’s better than anyone else. Besides, Ethan and I are good friends, he likes the same things as I do.’ Rosie blushed.

‘He’s a dirty gypsy. One you should keep your eye on. I certainly would not want him near me.’ Jane opened the warehouse doors for Rosie to pass by her and, as she did so, Rosie looked her snobbish cousin up and down.

Jane might be better dressed than her, in a pin-tucked, high-collared white blouse adorned by a silver brooch and a tight beige skirt, with her hair piled high upon her head, but she was not a nice person. In fact she could be downright vicious. From now on, Rosie would not mention Ethan’s name to her ever again.

‘Miss Rosie, I meant to talk to you at your grandmother’s funeral, but I never got the chance.’ Bert Bannister looked across from his bench and smiled at the young woman he’d known all her life. ‘I heard that you and your family were coming to visit, so a good thing may have come out of your grandmother’s passing. It will be good to see your mother taking an interest in the firm again.’

‘Thank you, Mr Bannister. We are only here for a few hours, but it is nice to be able to look around at where my mother once worked alongside Aunt Isabelle.’ Rosie smiled at the old man whom her grandmother had revered.

‘She did more than work here, lass. She was the one who built it, along with Miss Isabelle. They worked well together back then; it was a shame bad things got in the way of their happiness.’ Bert breathed in deeply and thought of all the years and bad feelings that had built up since the opening of Atkinson’s department store.

‘It was Grandmama’s store – she was the one with the money. Atkinson’s is nothing to do with Rosie or her side of the family,’ Jane said curtly.