Kitty let out a long sigh after she had finished and left the room. It looked like she had a whole morning ahead of her with nothing to do, but then she remembered that she had decided to go outside and explore the garden. She hated to be cooped up on such a beautiful day even in a house as luxurious as this.

Once outside in the hallway she paused, trying to remember which way to go. There were so many doors but then seeing the one that she thought led down to the kitchen she headed for that. Her hunch proved to be correct and seconds later she emerged into the kitchen, much to the horror of the cook who looked at her as if she had committed a cardinal sin. She was at the table rolling pastry and on spotting Kitty she gasped, ‘Oh my goodness, whatever are you doing in here, miss?’

‘I was trying to find a way into the garden,’ Kitty answered, painfully aware that all the staff present had their eyes focused on her.

‘Well, just this once you can go out this way, but in future you should go through the French doors in the dining room,’ the cook told her. ‘They lead directly into the part of the garden you’ll want. This way you’ll have to go through the vegetable garden.’

‘That won’t trouble me,’ Kitty told her with a smile. ‘I used to work in the vegetable garden often when I lived at home.’

The cook and the mousy-haired little girl who was tackling a pile of dirty dishes at the sink looked shocked but they didn’t comment as Kitty sidled past them. After slipping out of the back door she found herself in a walled garden where rows of vegetables peeped from the earth in neat straight rows. They reminded her of the vegetable garden at Treetops and she suddenly experienced a painful bout of homesickness as she wondered what Sunday, Tom and Ben would be doing now.

Hurrying past the rows of carrots, cabbages and onions she headed for a door set in one of the walls and after pushing it open she emerged into another garden. But this was nothing like the other; this had paths that curved through a lush green lawn and to either side of it the borders were full of shrubs and rose bushes. She had gone no more than a few steps when she spotted what appeared to be the rear end of a child protruding from one of the borders, and as she approached, a young boy who looked to be in his early teens suddenly sat back on his heels to stare at her with a startled expression on his face.

‘Hello there.’ Kitty smiled at him, hoping to put him at ease. ‘I’m Kitty, do you work here?’

The boy nodded after glancing towards the door she had just come through to make sure that she was alone.

‘Yes, I do. Me name’s Arthur Partridge, an’ you must be the missus’s niece what’s come to live wiv her.’