‘If you give me a list I’ll go,’ Kate said firmly. ‘I have nothing else to do.’

‘But you can’t go to market on your own, miss. It just ain’t done.’

‘I can do anything I want, Mrs Pugh.’

‘I’ll go with Miss Kate.’ Jenny bustled into the kitchen. ‘I’ve just helped Lady Martin upstairs to her room, so I’m not needed for a while.’

‘You’re getting above yourself, Jenny Marsh. You ain’t officially a lady’s maid, you know.’

‘Yes, she is, Mrs Pugh,’ Kate said firmly. ‘Jenny is my mother’s personal maid and mine as well. I will go to market, and Jenny will show me the way. She can help me to carry the items you require. Jenny, please make a list while I get ready to go out.’

It was a bright morning, still very chilly by Kate’s standards, but the sun was shining and it was good to be out of the house. Jenny knew all the backstreets and she suggested that they should walk rather than take a cab to the market. The route took Kate through areas she had not known until now, and when they finally cut through Lincoln’s Inn on their way to Clare Market, Kate was shocked to see the poverty of the surrounding narrow streets and alleyways. The stark contrast between the sedate environs of Lincoln’s Inn and the narrow, poverty-stricken streets took her breath away. Jenny, however, seemed quite at home and unafraid of the men who gathered together, huddled over burning braziers, calling out in a way that would have caused Kate’s mother to faint with horror. Jenny merely laughed as she steered Kate to the butcher’s shop that she said Cook preferred, and having purchased the meat they bought vegetables and apples from one of the many costermongers’ stalls.

Jenny knew the pieman who walked amongst the crowd selling his wares, and she persuaded Kate to buy one and see if she agreed that it was the best she had ever eaten. In the end they shared a pie with a glistening golden crust, stuffed with tasty beef and onions. Kate tried to ignore the hollow-eyed stare of the ragged, barefoot children who followed them like hungry birds ready to swoop on fallen crumbs. She bought a bag of buns from a passing vendor and tossed it to the nearest child, who was lost beneath a sea of flailing arms and legs as the others fell on him in an attempt to steal the food.

‘Best walk on, miss,’ Jenny said in a low voice. ‘Don’t stop for nothing.’

They had reached the comparative safety of Lincoln’s Inn when a stern voice called Kate’s name.