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was empty apart from some hand-stitched sachets of lavender and pennyroyal to ward against moths.
    “Mary, wherever have you gone?” Lucy’s words echoed around the small space. “And why didn’t you tell anyone?”
    She checked under the bed, but there was nothing there, except an earthenware chamber pot and a tangle of dust. It seemed that Mary had taken everything she owned, but why?
    She made her way back down to the steamy kitchen and pulled Anna aside into the hallway.
    “Mary isn’t up there.”
    “What do you mean?” Anna’s face flushed with indignation. “Did she go shopping with Mrs. Fielding? Why didn’t anyone ask me if it was acceptable for her to leave? Just because I’m not as intimidating as you are, I still need to be consulted.”
    “It’s not quite that simple. All her possessions have gone with her.”
    Anna brought her hand to her mouth. “You mean she has run off?”
    “It certainly looks like it.”
    “But why? She seemed perfectly happy here, didn’t she?”
    “As far as I know, she was well settled and content.” Lucy took off her bonnet. “Was she particular friends with any of the other maids?”
    “I’m not sure. Perhaps Betty might know.”
    “Let’s go and ask her.” She turned back toward the kitchen, but Anna grabbed her arm.
    “Don’t ask her now, or the washing will never get done!”
    Lucy paused. “That’s true. I’ll help you, and then we can question her afterward.”
     
    “I don’t know where Mary went, miss.” Betty looked earnestly at Lucy. “She’s been behaving a bit strangely the last few weeks, a bit distracted like, as if her mind wasn’t on her work.”
    “But you had no notion that she intended to leave us?”
    “None at all, miss.” Betty shook her head so definitely that her dark ringlets bobbed around her face. “But she wasn’t one to share her secrets with me.”
    “Was she close to any of the other servants?”
    Betty nibbled her lip. “I know she spent some of her time with one of the servants from the Hathaways’ house up the road. But here, she was closest to Jane in the nursery. I think she wanted to work as a nurse one day.”
    “She never mentioned that to me. But I suppose she knew there would be no more babies in this family. Perhaps she simply found a new position.”
    “Without a reference?” Anna stripped off her apron. “What respectable family would take on a servant, especially as a nursemaid, without first writing to her former employers?”
    Lucy caught Anna’s eye and nodded at Betty. Sometimes her sister could be a little indiscreet in front of the servants. “Is there anything else you can think of that might help us, Betty?”
    “Not right now, miss.” Betty tugged at her wet, clinging skirts. “After doing all that washing, I’m too tired to think.”
    “Well, if you remember anything, please don’t hesitate to come and tell me at once.” Lucy rose and Betty nodded.
    “Yes, miss.”
    “If Jane isn’t busy, could you send her down?”
    “Of course, miss. I’ll go and find her before I change my dress.”
    “Thank you, Betty. I’m sorry the whole burden of the laundry fell upon you today. I promise I will make it up to you.”
    Betty bobbed a curtsy. “That’s all right, miss. But I hope we find out what happened to Mary. I’ll have a few words to say to her myself when I see her next.”
    After Betty left, Anna glanced at Lucy. “I wonder what has happened? Had you even paid her quarterly wages?”
    “No, I haven’t. She didn’t strike me as the kind of girl who would save her wages, either.” Lucy frowned down at her cracked hands, which now smelled strongly of lye soap. “Do you think she might have broken into Father’s strongbox and taken some money?”
    “Oh my goodness. I don’t know.” Anna brought a hand to her cheek, her blue eyes wide. “Unless she had an accomplice—a man who wanted her to run away with him, or simply pretended that he did to get her to steal