‘It’s Pearl,’ she tells her shyly.

The lady smiles. Her teeth are clean but slightly crooked. ‘How pretty.’

Pearl’s not meant to be doing this. Walking to the parlour feels like running a race, because her heart beats so fast and her breath’s all ragged. She subsides into her usual chair, while the lady who calls herself Agnes puts down her carpet bag and perches on the edge of the sofa.

‘Pearl,’ she begins. She folds her hands together on her lap and stares at them for a moment. ‘Pearl, I need to talk to you about your Gift.’

‘I don’t remember,’ she blurts out. Seeing Agnes’s confused glance, she hurries on. ‘I mean, I remember you a bit. But not the séance we had. When I contact the spirits, it’s like … They possess me. Take over my body, make it do and say things, but I’m not there. I don’t know where I go … It feels like a dream. A mad dream you have and then you wake up in the morning and parts of it are gone forever.’

‘Yes, I understand,’ Agnes replies seriously. ‘I have those kind of dreams sometimes. Especially since I was ill. I forget an awful lot.’

Pearl notices the lady’s sleeves. They’re worn thin at the elbow, going from black to mackerel skin. For all her airs and manners, she can’t be that wealthy.

‘Maybe you have the Gift too.’

Agnes presses her lips into a closed-mouth smile. ‘You jest. But no one else has a talent quite like yours, Pearl. When last we met, you performed an … extraordinary séance. It was remarkable. And what is more, I now have confirmation that your revelations were accurate. You correctly identified a man who had drowned – why, you must know this already. Your sister, Miss West, found his body.’

Pearl’s ears prick. Myrtle hasn’t told her that. She doesn’t tell her anything important.

‘Good. I’m always glad to help,’ she murmurs.

‘I hope that is true. For I need your assistance once again.’

‘You’ll have to make an appointment with Myrtle, I don’t—’

Agnes holds up a hand. It is knobbly; all joints. ‘I would. But since you became so unwell …’ She fidgets. ‘Well, the truth is I cannot afford the price your sister is asking for a second sitting.’

Pearl’s gripped by a sudden panic. ‘I can’t change her mind for you. Don’t ask me to talk to her, because she won’t do it. She never listens to me. And she’ll kill me if she finds out I spoke to you or let you in the house—’