‘Everyone in Southwark knows me, but not someone like that. How would Harriet Littlemore know my name?’

‘How do you know hers?’

‘I overheard someone talking to her. She was buying a silk nightgown, for her wedding, I think, and another woman called to her. She was really shocked when I said her name, though – like she’d thought she had an advantage, knowing mine. That made me laugh.’

‘And what? You got talking, you and this Harriet woman? What about? Common interests in expensive jewellery?’

‘Ha. I like that. No. She told me to take a bath.’

‘How rude.’

‘She was right. I needed one.’

‘I hope you told her where to stick her bath, though.’

‘I told her she needed a pair of emerald earrings. And that she should cut her hair.’

Solly prises the glass from her fingers and adds it back to the sparkling green jar before screwing on the lid. ‘You’re a charmer, Ruby Mills. Fancy telling a lady she should cut her hair.’

‘Well, she did it,’ Ruby says, looking at him with a serious face. ‘She cut it short. I saw her again on Saturday night. And her hair was cut short.’

Solly rubs an eyebrow and shrugs. ‘Well, maybe she sits in the picture houses as much as you do. Maybe she wants to look like those American actresses, too.’

‘Nah.’ Ruby shakes her head. ‘It’s more than that. She wanted me to see it; it was like she wanted my approval. Like it was important to her, what I thought. And she had a new hat that was exactly the same colour as my best coat – the same blue.’

‘She wants to be like you, you think?’

‘She wouldn’t, if she knew what my life was, would she? Besides, she disapproves of what I am.’ Harriet Littlemore had lifted a trinket, probably out of boredom; it didn’t give her any sympathy for the Forties.

Solly puts the eyeglass into a leather pouch, which he then shoves into his pocket. ‘Odd, though. Her mimicking you. Maybe she’s just fallen for your pretty face. Easily done, I imagine.’

‘Maybe.’ Ruby fiddles with the opal ring on her finger. ‘I don’t know. But while she’s around, she’s bloody useful. It’s why I used her for this job. Spoke like her, even used her name.’

Solly tuts. ‘That was unwise, Magpie. What if she finds out?’

‘She won’t.’

Solly frowns as he tidies away the tools. ‘There’s something you’re not telling me, Ruby. I can hear it.’

Ruby is quiet for a moment.

‘There’s nothing, I swear it.’

Solly licks his lower lip. Ruby’s oaths are worthless, he knows that.

She stands and stretches her arms. ‘I’m going back to Soho,’ she says.

‘If that’s what you want.’

‘You don’t need me. I’m only distracting you.’