‘I…’ Harriet is taken aback by the sharpness of her tone. ‘He was with you, wasn’t he? At Mr Enderby’s jewellery shop. I saw you, both of you. You saw me there, too, don’t you remember?’ She presses her lips together. She will not betray Alice Dunning. She must not give any intimation that Alice has shared so much. Alice was perfectly clear what would happen to her – even inside Holloway – if the Forties heard that she had spoken about them.

‘Yeah, I saw you.’

Harriet’s neck is warm.

‘Billy Walsh is nothing. Just a man.’

‘Not… Someone you step out with?’

‘No.’ The single word is final, decisive. Harriet decides not to pry. There is history between Ruby and Billy Walsh, but it is clearly causing her new friend distress. Ruby sits in silence, frowning.

‘I took something once, you know.’ Harriet stirs the sugar into her tea, staring at the swirl of the liquid. ‘Like you do.’

Ruby doesn’t comment.

Harriet lays the teaspoon in the saucer. ‘I said, I took something once. From a shop, I mean.’ She leans forward and drops her voice. ‘I stole something. Lifted it.’

‘I don’t believe you. Why would you do that?’

‘I wanted to know what it felt like to take something that wasn’t mine.’

She wants Ruby to ask her how it felt. She wants to tell her, to share the experience, but Ruby is concentrating on the cake.

‘It was a manicure case. Tortoiseshell. Smooth as glass and small enough to fit under my palm. That was how I did it. I just closed my hand around it and slipped it into my pocket.’

Ruby smiles.

‘That’s good.’

The skin on Harriet’s cheek turns a little redder. ‘I felt something, you know. It was like you said. I felt alive.’

‘Weren’t you scared you’d be caught?’

‘Terrified. I walked and walked for miles, very quickly, and then I stopped and pulled it out of my pocket, just to make sure I really had taken it.’

‘Where is it now?’

‘It’s in the drawer of my dressing table with some other trinkets. I didn’t think it was wise to carry it around with me.’

‘No. It’s never a good idea to keep your steals, although I don’t imagine the coppers will come banging on the door of your house in…’

‘Kensington,’ Harriet supplies. ‘Onslow Square.’

‘In Kensington,’ Ruby nods. ‘Onslow Square, you say? Nice to know. Well, they won’t be tipping out your drawers and cupboards hunting for it there, will they?’

‘Goodness, I hope not.’ The thought of the police confronting her mother with a story about a stolen manicure case makes her suddenly cold.