‘Dear child! You are worrying me to distraction. Are you ill?’

She’s always ill these days, but this is worse, shredding the very inside of her. For the first time she understands why Myrtle’s chary of talking about Mother. Grief hurts. It really, really hurts.

‘He’s dead,’ she howls into the sofa. ‘My father’s dead.’

CHAPTER 32

The child sleeps deeply. If Agnes stands back from the sofa, she can easily imagine it is Cedric slumbering there. The oversized cap conceals the girl’s shock of wintery hair, and her thin, pale limbs are tucked underneath her. Only the rise and fall of the slender chest gives Pearl away; it does not undulate gently, as Cedric’s does, but jerks.

Is it safe to let her stay here? Mamma still hasn’t returned, and although Agnes tells herself that her mother is her own woman, quite capable of leaving the house if she chooses, she does not truly believe it. In her mind, Mamma’s disappearance is connected to the destructive presence that pushed her silhouettes from the wall. There is no evidence of it in the shady parlour at present. Is Pearl holding it at bay? She will keep everything dark. The darkness will protect them, somehow.

Yet ghosts are not the only thing Pearl needs saving from. Now that her father has succumbed to his disease, she will be living alone with Miss West. Could Agnes retain the child at Orange Grove, in secret, and give her a better life? She never told Miss West her address, the horrible woman would not know to come looking for her sister here …

But it would only take one mention of ‘Miss Darken’ to the police and that odious Sergeant Redmayne would be banging on her door. Simon has endeavoured to clear her name of suspicion at the station, and this would undo all his good work. No. As much as Agnes would like the company, and to offer Pearl a refuge from her cruel sister, she cannot keep the girl hidden here.

As best she can in the scant light, she jots a note to Simon. He will be busy, visiting Cedric and running his usual practice, but she must tell him about Mamma, and she would like him to take a look at Pearl before sending her back home. No one can see the girl and suppose that she is healthy. They may have left it too late to act with poor Mr Meers, but Pearl is young. Perhaps she can still conquer her illness.