‘Well, I hope she’s been up to the farm to tell Nancy she’s not going to be there any more,’ said Dora when she’d heard Ellen’s whole story. ‘Not that there’s much difference between her going and not, the amount of work I reckon she did.’

‘What do you think she’s up to, Mum?’ Ellen asked. ‘She didn’t turn up today because she wanted to take Mrs Stellion’s puppy for walks, that’s for certain. I don’t reckon she even knew the lady had a puppy.’

‘No … but mebbe she was a bit envious of your new job – you know what Gina can be like – and wanted to get herself a job here at the Hall too.’

Ellen remembered what Gina had said the previous day and thought her ambition lay far beyond working at the Hall, but she didn’t want their mother to worry about what might turn out to be something and nothing, so she kept quiet.

When they arrived home and went round to the back door, they found a bicycle propped up against the wall. It was black and shiny, and had a very smart little basket on the front. It was, in short, a proper lady’s bicycle.

They looked at each other. Then: ‘Gina,’ they said in unison.

‘Now what, I wonder,’ added Dora.

‘Borrowed it from the Hall, didn’t I?’ said Gina, sitting at the kitchen table with her feet up on a chair.

She’d made herself a pot of tea, but it was tepid and stewed by now. Dora didn’t waste her breath asking whether her daughter had swept the sitting-room carpet, as she’d said she would.

‘Borrowed? You mean you took it?’ asked Ellen. This wouldn’t be the first time Gina had taken something without asking. She was still wearing her hair tied back with her sister’s scarf.

‘I did not! I asked Mrs Stellion and she said I could borrow it. It belongs to her daughter but she’s not often at home, so Mrs S said it would be all right. It means I can pop over to the Hall to exercise Coco twice a day without having to walk there and back in between.’

‘“Pop over to the Hall to exercise Coco” indeed,’ said Ellen. ‘What exactly is your game, Gina?’

‘I don’t know what you’re on about,’ Gina replied primly, then gave her sister a huge and very annoying grin.

‘Yes you do.’

‘Just ’cos you—’

‘Girls, you can both be quiet now,’ said Dora. ‘It’s what it is. The pair of you have got work at the Hall, and that’s fine by me. But I’m warning you, Gina, I don’t want any trouble. You know what I mean.’

‘Yes, Mum.’ Gina looked sulky.