‘It’s a mess.’ Nell picked up a shirt Maude had discarded on the floor and folded it, placing it on a spare bed, before picking up another one. Clearly, leaving Maude to her own devices up here wasn’t working. She glanced up at the ceiling, at the strange marks scored into the beams, soft, blurring into shadow. Well out of her reach, let alone a child’s. She didn’t know what she had been thinking, making such ridiculous accusations.

Maude slid her notebook under her pillow, making a point of not looking at Nell.

Carolyn smiled conspiratorially at Maude. ‘It’s not a mess if you know where everything is,’ she said.

‘No,’ said Maude, ‘it isn’t.’

The shoe had fallen onto the floor and Nell picked it up.

Maude frowned. ‘You said I could look after it.’

‘I didn’t mean you could dump it in with all your rubbish. Where’s the box?’

‘My stuff isn’t rubbish,’ said Maude, tugging at the bracelet Evie had given her, tightening the knot.

‘May I have another look?’ said Carolyn, leaving Nell with no choice than to hand it over. ‘I can see why you like it too.’ She sat on the edge of Maude’s bunk. ‘But Nell’s right, you should probably keep it safe.’

‘She shouldn’t be keeping it at all,’ said Nell. ‘Not if she can’t look after it responsibly.’

‘But you won’t take it,’ Maude said, ‘will you? Please?’ She almost seemed to be on the verge of tears. ‘I’ll be careful.’

Carolyn handed the shoe over to Maude and smiled up at Nell expectantly and suddenly it was two against one, and it was Nell who was being unreasonable, and poor Maude who needed to be indulged.

‘Of course not,’ she said, ‘but you have to remember it’s not ours. You have to take very good care of it. You have to be – responsible.’

Something in Maude’s expression soured. ‘Yeah, right,’ she said.

‘Time for me to go, I think,’ said Carolyn, standing. ‘It’s ever so late; but I’ll come and visit again, if you like? Check up on you.’

‘Yes, please,’ said Maude, before Nell could answer.

*

They walked down to the kitchen. ‘Thanks again. You’ve no idea how grateful I am,’ said Nell.

‘Oh, you’re welcome.’ Carolyn gathered up her bag. ‘You didn’t say – what happened exactly.’

Nell hesitated. ‘Power cut,’ she said. ‘The lights went out – and in the confusion Maude stood on a broken glass.’

Holding it out, distracted by the mark on Maude’s hand, then the noise upstairs.

The glass she had left in the kitchen.

‘I see.’

‘It’s happened before. The lights fusing, I mean.’

‘Well,’ said Carolyn, ‘these things happen, especially in these old places, and kids are a total nightmare – if they can find something to break or trip over, they will.’

‘Yeah.’