The door opened and Mrs Douglas hurried in, very out of breath. ‘I’m so sorry, madam, but she’s gone. There was a bus at the stop and she jumped on just as it was pulling away.’

‘Which bus?’ Matt asked. There was no way he was going to keep out of this.

‘I couldn’t see, Mr Matthew.’ The housekeeper was clearly upset. ‘She glanced back at me as the bus went up the road, and she looked so young and frightened. I don’t believe she knew or cared which bus she was on. All she wanted to do was get away.’

His parents now had an air of hopelessness about them, and his brothers were not contributing anything to help with the crisis, so Matt took over. ‘Who among the servants knew her the best?’

‘That would be Edna. They shared a room,’ the housekeeper told him.

‘Bring her here, please, Mrs Douglas.’

The housekeeper returned with Edna, who was red-eyed with weeping.

Matt left the questioning to his mother, who now seemed in control again.

‘Edna, do you know where Jenny might have gone?’

‘No.’ Another tear trickled down her face. ‘I’m that worried, madam. She ain’t fit to be out there on her own.’

‘Do you know who she is?’ Gilbert asked.

‘She never talked about herself – not even to me, and we was friends. But I know she wasn’t used to hard work. You should have seen her poor hands at first. There was never a complaint, though; just got on with the jobs, she did.’ Edna’s eyes were brimming over. ‘She isn’t a thief. Mrs Douglas said she’d told you she owned those things. If she said that, then it was the truth. She ain’t a liar neither.’

Louise handed the housemaid a handkerchief.

The maid mopped up her tears. ‘I did know she was hiding from someone. Real frightened of him, she was.’

‘We’ve got to find her, Edna.’ Matt didn’t like this situation at all. The thought of a defenceless girl like that running scared worried him. There was no telling what might happen to her. ‘Didn’t she tell you anything about friends she might have – someone she could go to?’

Edna chewed her lip. ‘As I said, she didn’t say nothing about herself. Except …’

‘Yes?’ Matt prompted, when the girl stopped what she was saying.

‘She did say she came from Lambeth and went to school there.’

‘We know that isn’t true.’ Matt’s father was now pacing the room with an empty glass in his hand as if he’d forgotten to fill it with brandy. ‘She’s probably seen sense and gone home.’