‘Really? She didn’t strike me as being – difficult.’ Nell didn’t really want to know, but she couldn’t see any way out of the conversation.

‘The trouble is,’ said Carolyn, ‘that she’s been here for so long, she thinks it gives her some sort of – authority, over the yard, over us.’

‘Mum.’

‘Well, she does, sweetheart. She has quite an attitude problem, to be honest. The whole business over the gate, for one thing.’

‘The gate?’ Maude flicked a quick glance at Nell. ‘Did you do that?’

‘Eventually, yes,’ Carolyn said. ‘Once we’d overcome all of Gina’s ridiculous objections. You’d think she wanted visitors to use the yard as a toilet on their way home from the pub.’

‘Ew.’ Maude wrinkled her nose.

‘Exactly. She claimed it was out of character for the street.’

‘Isn’t it?’ Nell asked, not catching Maude’s eye.

‘Goodness, no, lots of the yards used to have gates, including this one.’

‘Why?’ asked Maude.

‘To keep visitors out,’ said Carolyn.

‘Or to keep locals in,’ said Evie, and Maude smiled.

‘Then there’s the drying ground.’ Carolyn turned to face Nell. ‘It’s next to Elder House, well, behind it, really. It’s just a little patch of land.’

‘Yes.’

‘Gina says it’s private,’ said Carolyn, ‘which is absolutely not the case, I mean, you’ll know that. Historically speaking, drying grounds were always communal areas.’

The idea sounded plausible, Nell had a vague memory of looking at some old photographs with her gran, patches of laundry hanging lopsided, like flags, between the crowded galleries of houses. But even so, she found it hard to imagine that any piece of land available in a yard might go unclaimed by one household or another. ‘Well, I suppose since no one needs one now—’ she began.

‘That’s hardly the point,’ said Carolyn.

‘Mum,’ Evie shook her head.

Nell finally gave in to the temptation to look at her watch. ‘Well, I suppose we should go,’ she said, standing. ‘But thanks for the coffee.’

‘You should come over for dinner sometime,’ said Carolyn, and ‘meet Ollie.’

‘Oh. That’s very—’

‘We’ll fix something up for later on in the week, shall we? Or’ – Carolyn saw them to the door, blocking it for a moment – ‘we could walk to the party together.’

‘Oh, I’m not sure—’

‘Well. If you feel like it.’ She stood back, out of the way, and Nell stepped outside, avoiding any kind of direct reply. Maude followed suit, keeping her distance from the dog.

Evie caught Flossie by her collar as she made a bid for freedom. ‘Bye,’ she said.

*

‘Well,’ said Nell, as she unlocked the door, ‘that was all very – full on.’

‘She was all right,’ said Maude.

‘Really?’

‘Yeah.’