‘Governor! Will you let this ragamuffin make such accusations against me?’ Frobisher exclaimed breathlessly. ‘He doesn’t even know what he is saying.’

‘No, he clearly does not, but he cannot be allowed to attack the good name of one of my staff,’ the governor said. He turned Gus to face him. ‘Do you not understand that by making such wild accusations you are only getting yourself into deeper trouble?’

‘It’s true!’ Gus sobbed. ‘It’s true!’

‘This has got to stop,’ Frobisher said. ‘Let me deal with him, governor.’

‘We shall both deal with him,’ the governor said grimly. He gave Gus a shake. ‘Get your breeches down, boy, and get over the back of that chair.’

They both laid into him, until he was sobbing and screaming, begging them to stop. Finally they let him up, his face wet with tears and snot and burning with the humiliation of what had been done to him.

‘It’s oakum picking for you until I decide you have learned your lesson,’ the governor said. ‘And don’t dare repeat accusations like that again, to anyone. Now get out!’

Shortly afterwards, in the oakum picking room, Gus sat automatically pulling at the unyielding strands of rope. He was conscious only of the throbbing of his wounds. Two thoughts hammered in his head in rhythm with the throbbing: Will was dead; and, whatever happened, he would never let them do that to him again.

Five

‘Afternoon off! You’ll get an afternoon off when I think you’ve earned it, miss. And not a moment before.’

‘It’s just that my brother is at the Industrial School and I haven’t seen him since I left the workhouse. I really want to make sure he’s all right.’

‘Well, you’ll just have to work extra hard to earn the time off, won’t you.’

The look on Mrs Wilkins’s face told May that there was no point in trying to appeal to her better nature. As far as May could make out, she didn’t have one. She sighed and went on polishing the silver. It was no good trying to go over her head to Mrs Freeman. May had been in service long enough now to understand how the household worked. Mr Freeman left everything to his wife, unless something was forcibly brought to his attention, as it had been by May’s collapse; and Mrs Freeman was completely in thrall to Mrs Wilkins. From little snippets of gossip, overheard while she was working, May had divined that she had married very young and had come from a family that was not particularly well off. Her husband’s success in business had lifted her up the social scale, but she was uncertain exactly what was expected of her now. Mrs Wilkins had established early on that she understood these matters and could be relied on to prevent her mistress from making some social gaffe, and now Lydia Freeman was frightened to go against her advice. As the household did not run to a lady’s maid, Mrs Wilkins took on some of her duties. She helped Mrs Freeman to dress in the mornings and was often closeted with her for some time, ‘taking the daily orders’ in her words; but May wondered who was giving the orders and who was receiving them. Later, Mrs Wilkins helped her mistress undress and prepare for bed, and once again she was often there for much longer than seemed necessary.