Beatrice felt like a passenger inside her own head. Her adult self wept with the joy of seeing her mother, but at the same time she was somehow still only a child, and this was just a day like any other; and she believed now, just as she had then, that this would go on forever. It would always be summer and her mother would always be right here with her, holding her hand. The alternative was unthinkable. And so the precious moment did not seem so very precious at the time. It was just the way things were.

Beatrice had fully intended to test what the footman had said and see if she could at least try to change what had happened, just to see if it was possible, but her child self leaned forward to peer into the cool darkness of the well, exactly as she had all those years ago.

‘I w-w-w- …’

She trailed off, feeling that familiar sense of frustration as her tongue tangled and twisted in her mouth, refusing to let her speak the words she wanted to say. Her father became cross when this happened, but when Beatrice glanced up at her mother she saw only patience and love on her face.

‘It is all right, dear,’ she said quietly. ‘Take a breath and start again.’

‘I w-wished to d-discover a new f-f-flower. One that n-no one has ever s-seen b-before.’

Her mother tossed her own penny into the well. They heard the splash as it hit the cool water below them.

‘Wh-What did you w-wish for, Mama?’

She smiled slightly. ‘The same thing as always,’ she replied. ‘I wished for your wish to come true.’

Beatrice wrinkled her nose. It seemed to her a waste of a wish, but her mother only laughed.

‘You’ll see,’ she said. ‘When you’re a mother yourself, you’ll understand that your own wishes no longer matter so much any more.’

Beatrice promised herself right then and there that she would never have children. Her wishes were too important to her and she was not prepared to give them up for anyone.

‘Oh, look, darling.’ Her mother pointed at a web spun in the little roof above the well. ‘A spider queen on her throne.’

Beatrice smiled and squeezed her mother’s hand. She was the only other person Beatrice knew who liked spiders as much as she and James both did. When they saw one in the garden, her mother never squealed in distaste, like her nanny. And she never destroyed their webs, as the maids so callously did if they found one inside Half Moon House. Instead her mother saw that spider webs were one of nature’s most fascinating, beautiful creations. Something to be marvelled at.

Her mother looked up at the sky now and said, ‘It’s getting late. We should go in for tea.’