‘Really, Jane, it shocks me. I worry so about the risk. It is terrible, what you are doing. I wish you would not. Indeed, I must insist that you do not take such a risk.’ Mrs. Ellsworth leaned back in her chair and fanned herself. ‘I do not wish to make any implications, but it shocks me, truly it does, that your dear husband would let you.’

‘It is not a matter of letting, madam. I should not wish to undertake the work without Jane at my side.’

‘We are careful to pace ourselves and do not court fatigue.’ Jane omitted any mention of the extra hours that Vincent would sometimes work, seeing no reason to bring her mother further alarm.

‘My dear Vincent, I would not argue with you for the world, but I must differ with you. Yes, I must. You must see the risk this carries for Jane!’ Mrs. Ellsworth wrung her hands. ‘Oh, I do wish you were no longer working glamour.’

‘But, Mama,’ – Jane, concerned that every fear Vincent had about her parents was coming true, wished that the length of the table did not separate her from her husband – ‘you knew we were set on being glamourists. I do not see how I am to do that without performing glamour.’

‘La!’ Melody laid her hand on Mrs. Ellsworth’s arm. ‘You would save time, Mama, if you would simply say that you want a grandchild.’

‘Of course! That is what I have been saying these last fifteen minutes. How could you think I was saying anything else? My meaning was perfectly clear. I am certain that Jane understood me, but she is too obstinate to allow that she did.’

A grandchild. Nothing could have been farther from Jane’s mind. She could not answer her mother. She had assumed that she and Vincent would have a family, but had not thought about what it entailed for the work they did together. If she had to stop working glamour for nine months, what would that mean for them? To be certain, Vincent had been working as a glamourist alone for far longer than they had worked together, but Jane so enjoyed the process of creation with her husband that she could hardly imagine taking any joy from being forced to stop.

And yet, was not the creation of a child the most important collaboration they could undertake? They had never spoken of children, and Jane realized that she did not know what Vincent’s feelings were about them. Perhaps he had no wish to be a father. His face betrayed nothing, though his figure was tense. But that could be attributed to fatigue, or to the unwitting censure which her mother had heaped upon him.

‘Well.’ Mr. Ellsworth tucked his fingers into his waistcoat. ‘I, for one, am glad that you are still performing glamour and hope that we might prevail upon you to favour us with some music tonight.’