‘I wonder what’s happened to Mr Shepherd. He’d surely have told us if he was expecting not to be round in the van any more. That rude man said he’d been “assigned to the archives”, but I don’t really know what that means.’

‘Oh dear, I wonder if that’s a euphemism for being pensioned off. I’ll make some enquiries …’

Gina enjoyed going up to the Hall twice a day. She didn’t mind exercising Mrs Stellion’s puppy, but being at the Hall was, to her, the whole point of her employment. She always eked out the tasks of cleaning Coco’s paws and tidying away his lead and the old tennis ball Tom had found for him so that she could spend as long as possible around the house.

This morning Mrs Stellion was in good spirits and was sitting writing letters with a fountain pen, quickly covering thick sheets of paper from her desk stand in neat writing, so that when Gina returned the happy dog to his owner, Mrs Stellion was too occupied to chat for long. Nor was there tea and biscuits laid out on a tray for Gina and her employer, as there sometimes was.

‘Oh, thank you, Gina,’ said Mrs Stellion, looking up and smiling at the dog. ‘Good boy, Coco. Sit!’

Coco obediently sat down beside his mistress’s chair at her leather-topped desk, a vase of fragrant early roses on it.

Gina felt proud of her pupil. ‘He’s coming on well, isn’t he, ma’am?’ she said, looking for praise.

‘Indeed. He’s a clever young fellow. Coco and I will see you this afternoon, then, thank you, Gina.’

‘Yes, Mrs Stellion. Goodbye for now.’ Gina knew she was being dismissed.

It was a beautiful morning and she didn’t fancy cycling home to do household chores until it was time to return here. Maybe she could just stay if she didn’t get in anyone’s way.

She went back to the gloomy entrance hall but, instead of leaving through the green door at the back, she decided to do a little exploration. Gina had seen Mr Stellion driving away in the big car earlier, so she knew only the morning room was occupied. She also knew that Dora was cleaning upstairs today and Mrs Thwaite was doing something in the kitchen. It was a good time to have a little look around.

Gina took the other corridor from the hall. There were four doors off it, mirroring the arrangement of rooms at the far side, and she opened the first slowly and peered in. It was filled with bookcases and the window blind was pulled down to keep the light low. She moved on.