‘Don’t take no notice of them.’ Mabel shook her head, clicking her tongue against her teeth. ‘They don’t take kindly to strangers, but they’ll get used to you. It was the same for all of us.’

‘I thought I must have offended them.’

‘They were like that with me, but now I get the occasional smile. The poor old dears have been here for so long they think they own the place. Anyway, I’ve got to go. I’ve got a night shift at the hospital.’

‘Are you a nurse?’

Mabel threw her head back and laughed. ‘No, love. I clean the wards. I’ll look on the notice board and see if there are any jobs going. I suppose you don’t mind what you do.’

‘No, not really. I need to start earning money or I’ll be forced to go home.’

‘I’ll see what I can do.’

Judy found herself alone in the oak-panelled dining room, and she struggled with a sudden wave of homesickness and assailed by doubts as to the wisdom of running away. It had seemed like the right thing to do at the time, but she had not given a thought to the difficulties she might face, or the heartache she would suffer. This was the end of her second day away from Creek Manor and Jack had not come after her. If his feelings for her were genuine, surely he would have made the effort to travel up to London, if only to make sure that she was all right? She left the dreary dining room and made her way slowly up the stairs to her lonely bedchamber. Raindrops were running down the windowpanes like tears and there was a chill in the room that made her shiver. She lay down on the bed still fully dressed and pulled the thin coverlet up to her chin. Perhaps things would be better tomorrow. She closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

At the end of the first week Judy still had not found employment, although she had been for several interviews. However, she soon discovered that she was not the sort of person that middle-class wives considered suitable as live-in housemaids. When Judy said that she had been assistant housekeeper at Creek Manor it seemed that the shutters went down. One woman even admitted that she would not consider employing an attractive-looking housemaid, as it always caused trouble with other servants. Others thought that she was over-qualified for positions as lowly as scrub women, who came in daily to do the hard work in their houses. Shopkeepers thought that Judy spoke too much like a lady to serve customers, who might think that they were being mimicked. No matter what job Judy tried for there was always a reason for rejecting her. Even worse, she had not had a word from Jack. He had not written and her mother’s letter made no mention of him at all.

The final straw was the fact that her money was running out. She could not exist on one meal a day, and she had been forced to buy a second-hand pair of boots as hers were worn beyond repair. Her fellow sufferers at the hands of Mrs Wood, whose strict rules governed every waking moment they spent under her roof, were sympathetic at first, but Judy realised that they were all desperate to escape the drudgery and loneliness of their lives. Perhaps the only people who were content with their lot were the two older ladies, who lived in their own little world. Judy found herself envying them.