“The most obvious conclusion upon initial inspection is that this is indeed the skeleton of a child—one aged between eight and ten. However, further investigation of the evidence tells us a different story. The skeleton acts as an archive of experience, and these bones tell us that this individual had a life beset with poor health. See here how the bones are twisted and bowed: that’s a sure sign of rickets caused by poor diet and lack of exposure to sunlight. You see it very often in the children who work in the mills. They go to work before the sun is up and finish after it sets. Also, here the bone has broken, more than likely after death, and probably because the bones themselves are weak and porous: a sign of scurvy, which comes from a very limited diet with virtually no fresh vegetables or fruit. This poor soul most likely subsisted on bread made with chalk or alum. Added to that, you can clearly see on these illustrations of the ribs that the child has woven-bone syndrome. I have seen this only rarely, but it is a recognised indicator of inflammation of the lungs. In all likelihood, the child had consumption.”

“Poor little soul,” Charlotte said.

“Little, but not so young as you might have thought. The child was suffering from malnutrition and was very small for their age, but though bones may deceive us, teeth don’t lie. All the adult teeth have come, but not the wisdom teeth yet. That would age this person at between twelve and fourteen.”

“The child must have been severely undernourished,” Charlotte said.

“Which would suggest they lived in poverty. You can find many with the same ailments only a few streets away. Industry has brought great wealth to a few and great hardship to many. I would wager this was one such child.”

“Can you tell if they were male or female?” Charlotte asked.

“Impossible to determine: even at this age there is no significant difference in the pelvic bones or skull. That would have to be determined by any other artefacts in the grave, if there were any.”

“There was only a pendant and the sheet the bones were wrapped in, which was mostly rotted away,” Charlotte said. “Are you able to determine the cause of death?”

Celia paused for a moment.

“I am very sorry to say that I am not.” She indicated the drawings. “This person was very ill and would likely have died soon in any event, but if they were deliberately injured, there is no evidence of it on the body: no fractures, no cut marks, no signs of trauma. That doesn’t rule out suffocation or poisoning, of course.”

“But it is possible that the child might have died naturally and then been placed in the chimney breast for some reason?” Branwell asked.