‘Not bad. They’re a rich banking family. We don’t see much of them. They leave the running of the household to Mrs Douglas. Don’t get on the wrong side of her or you’ll know it. The last girl was chucked out for being lazy and not doing her cleaning properly.’

‘Oh, dear.’ Jenny shivered even more. This all sounded very frightening.

‘Don’t worry.’ Edna laughed. ‘Do your job and it’s not a bad place to be. I knows a lot worse. Get some sleep and I’ll make sure to wake you at five. Mustn’t be late on your first day.’

When she’d been sitting in the warm kitchen she’d felt quite hopeful; that disappeared as she listened to Edna. She prayed she was going to be able to do this.

Burying her head in the pillow to muffle the sound, Jenny Baker, the new under housemaid, cried herself to sleep.

‘Jenny! Wake up.’

Someone was shaking her roughly. She opened one eye. It was dark, very cold and for a moment she couldn’t think where she was. Then Edna whipped the covers off her and she leapt to her feet as she remembered. She was now the under housemaid in the Stannard household.

‘Get washed and dressed quickly. Put on the striped frock and pinafore. Hurry, hurry!’ Edna urged.

Jenny had never been this rushed before but within ten minutes her roommate was inspecting her and nodding approval. They ran downstairs and presented themselves to the housekeeper.

Mrs Douglas handed Jenny a sheet of instructions. Every job was listed with the time beside it and she couldn’t help wondering how anyone could get through so much in one day.

‘These will be your duties. You must keep strictly to the times. Edna will show you today. Watch her carefully because you’ll be on your own from tomorrow. Is that understood?’

‘Yes, Mrs Douglas.’

‘Off you go, then.’

Jenny followed Edna as the housemaid hurried from room to room, cleaning out the fireplaces and laying them ready for the footman to light. After watching her do three, she asked if she could have a go, and received a smile from Edna when she’d finished.

‘The next job,’ Edna told her after they’d dealt with five fireplaces, ‘is to scrub the front step. You can do that while I take up the early-morning tea. You’ve only got ten minutes, then we’ve got to get the day rooms ready before the family have finished their breakfast.’