Miss West does not appear to hear her. Her lips twist and wobble. ‘Tell me, was it … bad, at the end? Did Pearl suffer an awful lot?’

Agnes remembers the rapt expression on the little face. She will not give Miss West that comfort; she does not deserve it.

‘Of what consequence is it to you? You hated the child!’

‘I did,’ Miss West agrees tearfully. ‘I did hate her! I wanted to get rid of her. But now she’s gone …’ She swallows. ‘I think maybe part of me loved her too. Just a bit. She was … I felt … Both. Love and hate. D’you see?’

Reluctantly, Agnes nods. ‘Sisterhood can be like that.’

Miss West cocks her head and considers her. Very quietly, she says, ‘I know what your sister did, Miss Darken.’

Agnes’s flesh creeps.

This must be one of Miss West’s tricks. Agnes reminds herself that the woman could have found an old newspaper report detailing the Accident, and decided to use it in one last desperate attempt to scare her.

It is all smoke and mirrors.

But it is working.

Miss West leans forward in her chair. Her face is so close that Agnes can smell the fetid confinement of the cells. ‘I wish I’d been around when that scandal happened. My ma told me all about it. I could have blackmailed you about the boy – you and the quack both.’

Agnes’s breath catches. ‘Cedric?’

‘The little bastard. Would have bled you dry trying to keep his origins secret. But what’s the point now?’

She is too astonished to form words. How can Miss West possibly know about Cedric’s true father? Not one of the family ever breathed a hint in public about the real reason Montague had left. As for Cedric, he was considered a little premature, given the date of his parents’ wedding, but all records of birth and baptism clearly show Simon’s name.

Yet somehow Miss West has managed to piece it all together. It would be dreadful if she revealed their shame now. Mamma’s heart would not take it, Cedric’s prospects would be blighted and Simon … Poor Simon would have married Constance for nothing.

‘Please—’ she starts.

‘That’s why you’re here, since you asked. I wanted to tell you all about my life, before I hang. I wanted you to know what you’ve brought me to.’ She points a finger. ‘Yes, you. You can sit there in your fancy clothes and call me vermin, but I wouldn’t have done any of it if it weren’t for you and your bloody sister.’

Agnes stares at her, bemused.