‘Annette,’ conceded Rosalie. ‘For now, you and Annette will both work for me, until the baby is born. You will have to share a room on the servants’ landing, but that can easily be explained as you are aunt and niece. After the birth, Annette will have to move out of the house. We cannot keep the child there, but it may be possible to find a family in the village who, for a little extra cash, would be happy to take them in, and it will be up to the two of you to find that money.’ Rosalie glanced at Agathe for her reaction when she said this. Agathe, thinking of her few savings, gave a slight nod, and Rosalie went on, ‘Depending on circumstances I may be able to employ… Annette… in the house again, once the child is of an age to be left while she is working. In the meantime, you will work with my housekeeper, Madame Choux, easing her load until Clarice’s wedding, after which she will be retired. I am hoping that you and I will find we suit each other very well, in which case I shall offer you her position as the Belair housekeeper.’

Agathe’s eyes widened at this. She had never considered that she might find a permanent place at Belair, and she was about to speak when Rosalie continued, saying, ‘However, there is one further proviso. Hélène will undoubtedly recognise Annette, and it is she who must be protected from the unsavoury truth of the matter. She will know that Annette is not your niece but I will tell her that when you were working together over the last few years, you became fond of each other and you adopted her as such. It is I who will explain this and the circumstances of Annette’s widowhood to Hélène. I intend to preserve her innocence in the matter. I shall say that Annette was married to… Have you decided on a name?’

‘Marc Dubois,’ replied Agathe.

‘A good name,’ agreed Rosalie. ‘There must be hundreds of those in Paris, so no one can query which one she was married to. Marc Dubois will have died in the flu epidemic, and Annette came to you, as she was left with nowhere to go. There must be no suggestion of anything else. You and Annette must concoct the details of the story and you must both stick to it rigidly. Annette must not share confidences with Hélène, and should I find that she has even hinted that her marriage and widowhood are not the truth, she – and you – will be out of the house within the hour, and so you may tell her.’

Rosalie sat back in her chair and, looking across at the other woman, said, ‘That, madame, is what I have to offer, no more, no less.’

It was an offer that had been difficult to achieve. Emile had not returned home until the small hours and she’d had to wait until he awoke to discuss things with him. She had found him in the morning room partaking of a late breakfast, and pouring another cup of hot chocolate for herself, she sat down with him and told him what she had in mind. Despite her presenting him with the fictitious version of the matter, his reaction had been predictable.