‘. . . I was just looking at the pictures,’ Effie faltered, not quite sure why the dropped book should elicit more fear than the carnivore sitting six feet away.

There was an appalled silence, then Sholto dropped to his knees and began gathering what she could see now were loose leaves. Several had been creased in the fall and now had perfect fold lines across them. Effie rushed over, taking care to remain out of lunging reach of the cat, and tried helping.

‘I’m so sorry. What have I . . . what have I done wrong?’ she asked, feeling desperate.

Sholto looked back at her with an angry expression. His eyes were blazing and his jaw clenched, but he shook his head, replying with studied neutrality. ‘Nothing. You couldn’t have known.’

‘Known what?’

Sholto looked down and away and she felt a keen sense of her ignorance, knowing she was missing something – again! – but was too dumb to know better.

‘One doesn’t tend to read that book,’ Sibyl offered mercifully into the silence.

Effie looked back at Sholto again, as though this dotty woman was making even less sense. ‘But aren’t books for reading?’

‘Apparently,’ Sibyl shrugged. ‘Only that’s rather a valuable one. More “look, don’t touch”. It’s one of only eight copies, made for the clan heads. One sold last year at auction for a record sum. Everyone was fantastically excited about it. As I recall, it was published in the 1760s and took ten years to complete, all hand-drawn. Something like that anyway.’ Sibyl dragged on her cigarette for several seconds, before exhaling a ribbon of smoke through her rouged lips.

Effie looked at Sholto, aghast. And she had one? And she’d damaged another? Her heart was beating fast. She knew it was terribly wrong that one of these books should be in her possession. Sholto saw her upset and relented. ‘Effie, it’s fine. Don’t worry, I’ll deal with it.’

‘But your father—’

‘It’s only a book. I’ll tell him I dropped it.’

‘You can’t do that.’

‘Why not?’

‘Because it’s a lie. I dropped it.’

‘I don’t think I’ll go to hell for fibbing about who dropped it.’

‘Dock it from my wages then,’ she said urgently as he rose to standing again and she jumped up too.

His mouth parted as though he was about to say something, but it was Sibyl’s sudden laughter that rang through the room. Sholto’s expression hardened as he shot her a silencing look. Had she said something funny?

He looked back at Effie. ‘Miss Gillies, it’s fine,’ he said stiffly. ‘Accidents happen. My father won’t care a jot.’