There was a whole room dedicated to ships in bottles, and to larger, extraordinarily elaborate models, fully rigged and ready to sail, while another was dedicated to the history of bathing costumes. The walls were lined with thickly varnished portraits of serious, solid men; and beneath them, more displays; jet jewellery; scientific instruments; spectacles and pocket watches; hats and gloves and bonnets.

Even the huge glass cases filled with the taxidermied birds Nell had hated so when she was a child were still in place. The whole museum was a gentleman’s cabinet of curiosities.

*

‘Do we have to pay?’ Maude’s voice echoed through the silence as they approached the reception desk, piled high with postcards and guidebooks, key rings and leaflets advertising summer season attractions.

‘Yes,’ said Nell, noting that the stuffed crocodile she remembered was still there too, raised up on its back legs, a donation box slung around its neck. ‘Only residents get in for free.’

‘We’re residents, aren’t we? And anyway, we’ve brought some-thing to show them.’

‘Nice try, but no,’ said Nell, rummaging in her bag for her wallet, smiling apologetically at the woman behind the counter. ‘We’ll buy our tickets and have a look around and worry about finding Gina later.’

‘Is it Gina Verrill you’re after?’ the woman asked as she took Nell’s money.

‘Well, if she’s available.’

‘Oh, yes.’ The woman handed over their tickets and a folded leaflet. ‘I’ll let her know she’s got visitors.’

‘Thank you,’ said Maude, taking possession of the leaflet, which proved to be a printed map. ‘Follow me, Nell.’

*

They took their time; inspecting the cabinets of embroidered samplers, before moving on to examine the fading school books filled with rows of exquisite copperplate writing. Maude wandered off to look at a display of toys and Nell gravitated towards the jewellery exhibits, keeping half an eye on her stepdaughter as she darted from one glass cabinet to the next. Nell smiled; she should have thought of this before; now she was older, this was exactly the sort of thing that would keep Maude entertained for hours.

‘Hello. You found us then.’ Gina was standing by the desk, holding a clipboard and file, a lanyard with an ID pass strung around her neck.

‘Yes,’ said Nell, ‘we did.’

‘Hello?’ Maude looked up from the dolls’ house she was examining, an exact copy, Nell remembered, of the big house opposite the park. She looked from one woman to the other, expectant.

‘Maude, this is Mrs Verrill, she lives in Rowan Cottage in the yard. Gina, this is Maude, my stepdaughter.’

Maude smiled. ‘You’ll never guess,’ she said, ‘what we found.’

*

‘We shouldn’t really be in here,’ said Gina, ‘what with you not being members, but I’m sure Mrs Agar won’t tell, if you won’t.’

The elderly lady sitting at a desk, working her way through an old-fashioned card index, looked up and smiled.