‘Oh,’ Martha tut-tutted, clearly disappointed. ‘Why is it that grown-ups are so mysterious? Why shouldn’t you tell me?’

‘You’re too young,’ said Dixon.

‘That’s daft,’ Martha said crossly. ‘I’m a working woman now.’

The two older servants glanced at each other with a grin, then Mrs Cunningham said, ‘Well, if you must know, she’s his fancy woman, and she’s coming to live here. She’s not well and he wants to look after her.’

Martha took in her breath. ‘Is that why the mistress has left him?’

‘What do you think?’ asked Dixon.

Martha seemed horrified. ‘Oh but that’s awful. Poor madam.’

Behind the cloakroom door, Milly pushed her spectacles up her nose as her throat constricted. Her mother had left her father? Was this true? And what did it mean? When she’d asked Daddy where Mummy was, he’d only said she’d gone to the London flat for a while. Milly was going to ask Mrs Cunningham and Dixon what they were talking about but, as soon as she appeared in the doorway, everybody went back to their work and seemed to be very busy.

Milly thought about telling Pearl what she’d overheard, but Pearl was still acting strangely so she didn’t dare. Anyway, Pearl would probably say, ‘It’s just gossip. Take no notice.’

But as the week went by, and their mother still hadn’t returned, Milly became more anxious. When Martha and Dixon began packing the girls’ trunks ready for their return to boarding school, Milly had a new worry. Mummy still hadn’t bought her some new shoes, and she couldn’t possibly manage for a whole term in her old ones. She mentioned the subject to her father, but he was in a hurry to be somewhere else.

‘Your mother will sort that out,’ he said, rushing through the front door. ‘Ask her.’ But Mummy wasn’t here, was she?

On the Saturday before the girls went back to school, there was a ripple of excitement when an ambulance pulled up outside the house. The two girls rushed to the window and saw Dixon exchanging a few words with the driver before he drove off again.

‘I’m going down to the cottage,’ Pearl announced.

With her sister gone, Milly hid herself away in the boxroom to play her dressing-up games one last time. She never liked raised voices and rows, so she avoided them whenever possible, and it was something of a relief to know that she’d be out of the house the next day. She was in the middle of a fantasy about being Joan of Arc when Pearl burst into the room.

‘She’s in the cottage,’ she said breathlessly.

‘Who?’

‘Who do you think? Father’s tart.’

Milly didn’t understand the expression and it must have shown on her face because her sister threw her hands into the air. ‘His friend,’ she spat. ‘His fancy woman, the bitch who has sent our mother away.’

Milly’s jaw dropped.

Pearl paced up and down the room. ‘Oh, I could kill her. How could she do it?’

‘Perhaps she can’t help it,’ Milly suggested. ‘After all, she is sick.’

‘You are so stupid sometimes,’ Pearl said, exasperated. ‘Don’t you understand? That woman is breaking up our parents’ marriage. If that happens, she will live here with her brat and we shall have to live in some pokey little cottage miles from anywhere. We won’t have servants or pretty clothes.’ She tugged at Milly’s dressing-up things. ‘And you won’t be able to play any more. You’ll have to go out to work like Martha.’

Milly’s eyes grew wide. Pearl threw herself onto the settee and began to cry. Milly did her best to comfort her sister, but all at once Pearl sat up and pushed her away. ‘We have to do something,’ she said desperately.

‘But what can we do?’ Milly said helplessly.

Pearl rose to her feet with a sudden determination. ‘I don’t know, but something.’

After supper, the two girls had a bath and Martha washed their hair. As always it took an age to dry but eventually they were ready for bed. Martha put their clothes on a chair ready for the morning and she listened as they said their prayers. After that, she left the nightlight in the saucer on the dressing table.

‘Goodnight, Miss Pearl, goodnight, Miss Milly.’

‘Goodnight,’ said Milly. Pearl didn’t answer.

Martha closed the door and they heard her going downstairs.

‘Whatever you do,’ Pearl hissed in Milly’s ear as Martha’s footsteps faded, ‘don’t go to sleep.’

‘Why ever not?’

‘Because as soon as they’re all in bed, we’re going out.’

‘Going out?’ said Milly. ‘Where?’

’To sort this out once and for all.’

Chapter 4

Milly did her best to keep her eyes open, but the next thing she knew, Pearl was shaking her awake.

‘What? What’s happening’

‘Shh,’ Pearl said.

Milly blinked and put on her glasses. Her sister was fully dressed and she was wearing her coat. The nightlight was guttering in the saucer, casting long moving shadows over the ceiling. The house was deathly quiet.

Pearl pushed Milly’s coat towards her. ‘Here, put this on and be quick about it. You haven’t got time to get dressed now.’

Milly was already feeling uneasy. ‘Why? Where are we going?’

‘Keep your voice down,’ her sister hissed. ‘I’ll tell you when you’ve got your coat on.’

Milly pulled her coat over her nightie. Using the guttering nightlight, Pearl lit a long candle, swung a canvas bag over her shoulder and beckoned Milly to follow her. The two of them crept along the landing and down the stairs. In the downstairs cloakroom, Pearl put on her shoes while Milly slid her bare feet into her wellington boots. She watched as Pearl grabbed a torch and blew out the candle, which she then stuffed into the bag. With a great deal of stealth, she opened the back door and they stepped outside. It was very dark when the door closed behind them, and the two girls hurried along the wall of the house until they reached the lawn, then set off across the grass towards the ha-ha. It had been raining.

By the time they reached it, Milly was really scared. She was trembling with the cold and her heart was going like the clappers. Pearl was the first to jump the ha-ha, but Milly was frozen to the spot. She started at the sound of every strange noise: snuffling sounds, an owl hooting, and something rustling in the ditch below them. White shapes were moving about near the edge of the woods, and her heart was in her mouth until she realised they were sheep.

‘I want to go back,’ Milly whimpered.

‘Well you can’t,’ said Pearl.

‘But I don’t like it out here in the dark,’ Milly complained, her voice wobbling. ‘It’s spooky.’

‘Come on or you can stay here on your own!’

As Milly landed beside her, Pearl grabbed her arm and pulled her closer. Look,’ she spat, ‘if you want Mummy and Daddy to stay together, we have to do this. Do you really want them to get a divorce and have him leave us to live with that awful woman?’

Milly’s eyes pooled with tears as she shook her head miserably. ‘No.’