‘Well, sir, it was a try. I’ve still got a trick or two up my sleeve. And, sir, I don’t want you to say I complained about Ed Woodly; it was Ethel brought his name in. I daresay I was hasty. They weren’t up to any real harm, but you know what he is, bad as they come; and when she turned cheeky, I did lose my temper and laid on a bit harder than I meant.’

When? Miss Mayfield wondered, trying to visualize the scene. The beating had not been administered through Ethel’s clothing, of that she was almost sure.

‘By the way,’ Mrs Rigby was saying, ‘I wrote out that recipe for pot-purry Miss Isabel asked me about when mine took the prize. Now you are here, p’raps you’d take it; we shall soon be saving up the rose petals.’

She went to the cupboard and returned with a piece of paper, which the Canon folded and placed carefully in his wallet. He rose as he did so.

‘Don’t go forgetting it, now,’ she said, smiling.

‘I’ll try not to. Well, Mrs Rigby, I’m sorry about all this. I shall take the first opportunity of saying a few words about obedience and respect to parents and elders, and I’ll have a tactful word with Master Woodly, too. He’ll find himself out of a job if he doesn’t mend his ways.’

‘Please, sir, not over this bit of silliness. Why, I’ve known his mother since she was about as old as Ethel is now; together in service, once we were. I wouldn’t have her heart broke just for a bit of thing like this. Mind, he’s bad, no denying that – with girls, I mean – but he’s good to his mother, and I wouldn’t on no account . . .’

‘All right, Mrs Rigby, we’ll forget it, this once. And go easy on Ethel, will you? She’s at a difficult age and I’m sure there’s no real vice in her. Goodnight.’

As they walked along Curlew Lane, he said:

‘Well, do you feel happier about it now?’

After too long a pause, she said, ‘I suppose I have to be.’

‘Old Phoebe let her temper get the better of her, that’s plain, and I think she’s ashamed of it but too proud to say so. You’d understand why she is a little unbalanced about boys if you knew her whole story.’

‘Miss Benson did give me a bare outline.’

‘A whipping, you know, is quite different from prolonged neglect or the deliberate sadism that one reads about. There was a time when the highest people in the land beat their children.’

‘Lady Jane Grey. Margery Paston. I know. What bothers me is Ethel’s attitude.’

‘Rude and defiant, I agree.’