After a drawn-out expedition to find the toilet that involved at least three wrong turns, Alice, feeling sticky and dishevelled, went back to her room and stripped off her mourning dress. She rummaged through her trunks and changed into a grey blouse and a long skirt, both creased and rumpled from their bumpy journey. Emma had left an oil lamp and a box of matches, and Alice set it up on the chest of drawers in front of the cloudy mirror. She dug a brush out of her things and did the best she could with her hair, though it really needed a proper wash. At the bottom of her trunk, she found the pair of ancient rabbits, and after a brief internal debate she pulled them out and sat them on the windowsill, where they could keep watch on the door.

They must have a bath here somewhere, she thought. At least the toilets proved they had running water. This far from New York, she wouldn’t have been surprised to find outhouses and hand-drawn wells.

There was no clock in her room, but she was fairly sure it was well after seven by the time she made her way downstairs. The long train ride with only a packet of biscuits from the station store had left her with a healthy appetite, and she hoped there was something left of breakfast. Finding the dining room turned out to be easier than locating the facilities, and as she pushed open a pair of big swinging doors, the rich smells of bacon and eggs wafted out to greet her.

The dining room was built on the same gargantuan scale as the rest of the house. The long wooden table could have seated at least sixty, flanked by threadbare, rickety-looking upholstered chairs. It was entirely bare except at one end, where a single chair had been pulled back, and three large, covered platters leaked delicious-smelling steam. Apart from Alice, the huge hall was empty.

Has everyone else eaten and gone, then? Alice hadn’t thought she was that late. She sidled round the table – it was perfectly clean, and so gleaming with polish that she could see a cloudy reflection of her face in the surface – and made her way to the chair in front of the platters. In addition to the food, there was a jug of water and another of orange juice, so cold that drops of water beaded on the sides.

‘Hello?’ Alice said. ‘Is this for me? Anybody?’

The smell of the food was overwhelming. Alice put a hand on the back of the chair and made a last effort to be sure she wasn’t somehow breaking the rules.

‘If I’m not supposed to eat this,’ she said loudly, ‘someone please tell me.’