Life had gone on, the days and weeks merging into a blur of hard work and such a full order book Ruby had taken on two assistants rather than one, but as the year neared its close a few days stood out from the past months. One was the death of Emmeline Pankhurst in June. The First Lady of women’s suffrage was buried in an emotional ceremony attended by hundreds of her followers, many of them wearing the colours of the Women’s Social and Political Union, and Ruby had attended with Clarissa and the chairwoman of their local branch. On the same day an American, Amelia Earhart, became the first woman to fly the Atlantic, battling against terrible weather to bring her seaplane down in a South Wales estuary. It seemed very appropriate that such a significant event had occurred on the same day that Mrs Pankhurst was saluted as a ‘heroic leader’ and a woman who had encouraged her own sex to believe they were every bit as good as men, Ruby and the others had thought.

Another less newsworthy but to Ruby even more momentous occasion happened in August when she bought herself a little car. The thrill of holding the sulphur-yellow driving licence in her hand for the first time and knowing she was free to drive herself where she pleased was intoxicating. Her Morris Minor was the latest model from Morris Motors and she immediately christened it Alfie, although quite why she wasn’t sure. ‘He’ just looked like an Alfie, she told a bemused Clarissa when she drove to Foreburn for Sunday lunch.

But it was in November on the first Sunday of the month that she was tested to the utmost. By unspoken mutual consent, she and Clarissa had never discussed Edward since the day of her friend’s party. It was clear by Clarissa’s silence about her brother that Edward must have confided something of what had occurred between them, Ruby thought, but Clarissa’s friendship had not wavered and the two women had carried on as normal. But that Sunday, when she had arrived for lunch, Clarissa had taken her aside and told her that Edward had been living in America for the last few months and had been seeing a rich young heiress to whom he had just got engaged.

‘I thought you ought to know.’ Clarissa had stared at her with troubled eyes. ‘I confess I don’t think his heart is in it and I’m more than a little surprised but there it is.’

It had taken every ounce of strength for Ruby to be able to nod and say calmly, ‘Pass on my congratulations to them when you have a chance. I’m sure they’ll be very happy,’ but she didn’t linger after lunch, unlike most Sundays.