‘Will we be happy here?’ asked Florence. Her hands were gripped around her cup of tea.

‘I think so,’ said Lily guardedly. ‘We know where we stand.’

‘You mean we know what can be said and what must never be said.’

‘How could I forget?’

‘As long as we understand each other,’ said Florence. Her glance was keen in the firelight. ‘Remember our secret, Lily. Never forget it.’ There was a hint of menace in her voice.

Lily stared into the flames … and thought of Tom.

Chapter Eight

Doris Clutterbuck’s Alpine Corset

It was New Year’s Eve and in the apartment above the Tea Rooms Doris Clutterbuck looked critically at her new figure-enhancing garment. On the leaflet inside the parcel it read, ‘Alston’s Rubber Reducing Body Garment’. As the star of the village pantomime, Doris was determined to look shapely and she knew her purchase would be perfect. At £2.2s it had definitely been expensive, but she knew that quality came at a price and so she read the instructions carefully. It said that the girdle had a nine-inch zip for ‘the fuller figure’, and Doris stared at her reflection and smiled. She had sent her waist and hip measurements and enclosed an extra threepence for swift postage, so it had arrived just in time.

The annual pantomime was only a few hours away and excitement was building for Ragley’s Amateur Dramatic Society – but especially for Doris. With the help of her new body garment she knew that, even at the age of fifty-five, her Cinderella would be her tour de force.

However, once she had struggled into it she could barely breathe. Then came the moment of truth. Over the top she added her magnificent Alpine leather corset. While last year it had proved a snug fit for her Snow White, it had clearly shrunk over time. She couldn’t fasten up the toggles and threw it back in the wardrobe in despair.

For fourteen-year-old Nora Pratt, it was also an important day. This was her first step towards stardom. Nora had been a member of the Ragley Amateur Dramatic Society for two years and her promotion from ensemble non-speaking parts in previous performances was well deserved. She never missed a rehearsal, and as she cleaned the tables and folded the napkins in the Tea Rooms she rehearsed her two lines. She had been given the part of Fairy Nuff, assistant to the Fairy Godmother, and she had to run on and say:

‘Fairy Godmother! Fairy Godmother!
Here comes Cinderella.’

Unfortunately, when Nora ran on in rehearsal to utter her two lines, she always recited:

‘Faiwy Godmothe’! Faiwy Godmothe’!
He’e comes Cindewella.’

However, Nora knew not only her own lines but everyone else’s as well. She had lived and breathed this performance of Cinderella and could recite every scene. In consequence, her moment of stardom was about to arrive in an unexpected way.