If true, Rosa feared this would be a wonder to compete with her carousel. And despite her best attempts, she had never succeeded in turning the carousel into the one from the book – the magical ride that could allow you to put right a mistake from your past. More than that, from the moment she finished it, the horse with the golden ribbon had been strange. It was always hungry. Rosa had seen clockwork creatures like Cookie sometimes develop hungers once they’d been alive and out in the world for a while, but she had never known one to start out ravenous. The horse ate all food that it came into contact with, yet never seemed satisfied.

And if Beatrice’s plums allowed someone to do the same thing for their future that Rosa had hoped her carousel would do for the past, then that was surely more impressive than merely visiting an old pleasant moment. And yet … Rosa had heard odd talk about the plums from those who’d been at the supper booths. Strange rumours quickly spread about the fruit and not all of it made sense, but it seemed that eating the plums was difficult and dreadful in some way that those who hadn’t been there could not understand.

From the moment she heard of them, Rosa was determined to see the plums again for herself. To her great irritation, Eustace insisted on going too.

‘Don’t be foolish,’ she said. ‘Why would you wish to go? You hate Beatrice.’

‘Hate her?’ Eustace repeated. ‘What nonsense. Lady Sitwell matters not one jot to me, either way. But why should I not see the garden and these plums that everyone is raving about?’ He gave Rosa a close look and added, ‘By all accounts, it is even more impressive than yours.’

Rosa clenched her teeth and said nothing. Eustace did not know about the competition, or why the two women had chosen to open such unusual winter gardens at the same time, but he sensed on some instinctive level how important the garden was to Rosa. He knew it was more than just a garden, and she dreaded that he might find some way to use that knowledge against her.

She lifted her shoulder in a shrug. ‘Come if you must, but there is no guarantee that you will see the plums. The supper booths are invitation only.’

Eustace looked irritated by that, which pleased Rosa. He was used to having things his own way and she always enjoyed seeing him thwarted.

They arrived at the garden together that evening shortly before eleven. Rosa’s clockwork raven accompanied her in the carriage and she was glad to see Eustace glance nervously at it more than once. His earlier comment about Beatrice’s garden being better than hers had touched a nerve and she longed to make him suffer in return.