“You’ll have to try rather harder than that.”

“I can’t try harder than tell the truth,” I said. It wasn’t a bad answer on the whole. It made him angry.

“Oh, nonsense, nonsense. Now listen to me. You’ve made something of a mess of the first twenty years of your life. Do you have any idea of what you want to do in the future? Or are you set on becoming one of those down-and-outs one sees sleeping on the streets? But, no, you’re a woman. You’ll marry the first man who’s willing to have you and you’ll make him miserable as well as yourself.”

This picture was so unlike me I couldn’t take it seriously. Not the last part, at any rate. It didn’t even make me cross. “I want to be a roofer,” I said. “I’ll do a City and Guilds building course and I’ll apprentice myself to a roofer.”

“Really?” In order to get up, Max pushed the table a little farther away from him and nearer me. This was a mistake on his part. “I hope you don’t imagine you can remain here while you train to be an artisan. I have other uses for Grandmother Mabel’s apartment. I’d like you out of here within the week.” He was longing for me to beg him not to call the police. “Within the week, Clodagh.”

“I’ll go today,” I said. “Thank you for letting me live here. I am grateful, though you may not believe it.”

With that, before he could stop me, I snatched up the notes, two fistfuls, and ran for the door. Max was athletic for his age and he was wearing a tracksuit and trainers, but his age was sixty and mine was twenty. He made an awful roar, the kind of noise you imagine a wounded bison might make. I slammed the door behind me, ran downstairs and out of the house by the front door. Luckily, as usual, my key was in my pocket. It was early and it might have been that no one was up, but I rang Silver’s bell and Wim came down to let me in. He came surprisingly fast, but then he was a surprising person. The great thing was that you never needed to explain anything to him, just as he never explained his own conduct to anyone. I raced up the stairs, my hands full of money, burst into Liv’s room. Whether she had been alone all night I couldn’t tell, but she was alone then. And asleep.

I shook her. It wasn’t very kind of me but I had to wake her. She was one of those slow surfacers who take ages to rouse themselves, but while she was making wa-wa-wa-what’s-the-matter noises, I held up the money for her to see before stuffing it under her pillow.