And it didn’t stop there. Incomes went down and prices continued to go up. Of course there was the house. Houses were worth more than they used to be, and she had almost succeeded in forgetting that The Lodge did not really belong to her.

Althea came a little way into the room and said,

‘What is it, Mother?’

‘Darling, if you will just shut the door – such a draught! Now let me see, what was it? Will you be passing Burrage’s? Because if you were, I thought I might just try that new Sungleam hair-rinse. I thought of it this morning, and then I wasn’t sure, but after all it wouldn’t do any harm just to try it, and then if it didn’t suit me there wouldn’t be any need to go on.’

Time was when Althea would have pointed out that going to Burrage’s would take her at least another twenty minutes, and that she was already late in starting because Mrs Graham had mislaid a pattern of embroidery silk which had had to be looked for, and had then called her back to say that she thought the last apples from Parsons’ were not very good and why not try Harper’s, and – yes, after all, she did think her library book had better be changed.

‘And, darling, why don’t you try some of that Sungleam stuff yourself? They have it in all shades. And really I don’t think you take enough care of your hair. It was such a disappointment to me when it didn’t stay fair – there really isn’t anything like fair hair to set a girl off. But it had a nice gloss, and it used to curl quite naturally. You know, it’s a mistake to let those sort of things go – it really is.’

Althea did not respond. She said briefly, ‘I’ll go to Burrage’s,’ and got herself out of the room.

This time she got herself out of the house too.