‘No,’ Hutchinson agreed, his face absolutely still. ‘He doesn’t.’ Then he yelled with sudden violence: ‘Reel him in, for God’s sake! Before somebody sees him!’

Benny and Constance stood outside the little red-brick museum. Benny was busy throwing stones at one of the windows above, not wanting to ring the little bell on the front door.

‘So you are a friend of Mr Shuttleworth,’ Constance whispered. ‘I know him by reputation. He has some associates who are very active in the Labour movement, and they’ve been supporting our cause. Oh, there he is!’

Alexander, clad in a bath-robe, had angrily pulled up the window and glared down at them. ‘What the devil? Oh…’ He broke into a smile. ‘Pardon my Greek. Be right down.’

They waited, crouched behind the hedge, for quite some time. Finally, Benny pulled out her watch and glanced at it. What’s he doing in there?’

‘He boasts, people say, of his several lady friends. Mr Shuttleworth seems to share Mr Wells’ opinions on free love. What do you think?’

‘Erm, I’m certainly opposed to paying for it. Should I feel nervous about staying with him?’

‘Oh…’ Constance seemed to consider for a few moments. ‘Well, I have never heard of him doing anything actually improper.’

‘What do his girlfriends say?’

‘I haven’t met any of them. He’s apparently very circumspect.’

From the other side of the hedge there came the sound of tapping footsteps. Benny and Constance crouched down further.

Of course, it was just at that moment that the door opened and Alexander, now in smoking-jacket and trousers, stepped out on to his doorstep. To his credit, he didn’t even glance in the direction of the fugitives in his garden, noting Bernice’s anguished hand signals out of the corner of his eye. Instead he smiled at the young nurse who was standing in the road beside his gate, her head turning this way and that as if sniffing the breeze. ‘Good evening, nurse. Can I help you in any way?’

The nurse turned and looked at him suspiciously. ‘No, no, I was merely waiting for somebody. Perhaps you may have seen her. A lady of around my age in a checked skirt, perhaps in a state of some disarray.’

‘Would she be…’ his gaze flicked down into the garden, ‘muddy?’

‘Yes, that’s her. She fled from the blaze at the hospital. I’ve been sent after her.’

‘Yes, I was wondering what the to-do was over there. Is everybody all right?’

‘Oh yes. A blanket caught fire, and it spread. The fire brigade quickly extinguished it. Now, I must hurry you. Where did you see the lady?’

Benny sneezed.

Alexander sneezed. ‘Still a chill in the air. Sorry. I saw her pass this way about an hour ago. She went, erm, that way…’ He gestured vaguely down the road. ‘She was running.’