‘I went before a board, they said show us proof you are married, show us proof your husband abandoned you, or you are at the back of the queue. There was a dozen other women trying to get in. Two dozen. It was no good, so I came here.’

Alice was silenced. The asylum was the last place of sanctuary. It had not occurred to her a woman might be refused entry. If not the asylum, then what? Scraps of leftover food and a handful of coins, this was all the assistance she could render. She thought again of Mrs Dunlevy, who sat on committees and attended charitable lunches and raised funds for deserving causes. One of her committees, surely, was the Benevolent Asylum? It was what had made her think of it.

She would ask Mrs Dunlevy for help, she would!

But she said nothing to Milli, because each occasion that she had stood before Mrs Dunlevy’s door unable to knock filled her with shame. Instead, she said, ‘Milli, if ever there was something I might do to help, I would do it, oh, I would! And with a glad heart!’

At this Milli’s arm shot out and grasped Alice’s wrist in a sudden and tight grip. Her eyes fixed on her sister in a way they had not done since she had arrived, as though Milli had just awoken and had been awaiting this moment.

‘You can help me, Alice,’ she said, and perhaps she saw more than Alice meant her to, for her next words seemed to reach inside Alice’s head and pluck the thoughts straight out of her. ‘You must take me back with you to that grand house where you work. I can shelter there. It would be a few days or a week at most.’

Alice felt the utter horror of such a request. It struck the words from her mouth. For this was the one thing she could not do. Milli knew nothing of her life if she thought this was even a possibility.

‘Or do you not wish to help me? Your only sister?’

Still Alice could not speak. The grip on her wrist tightened. Her arm was pulled sharply across the makeshift little table and would not be released.

‘Alice, you must help me! I cannot stay here and not just because of this.’ Milli stabbed a vicious finger at her swollen belly. ‘There are people after me, people who would kill me.’

What she meant by this, and if it were even true, Alice did not know.