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phrases?’
    â€˜The dead people’s section of the newspaper,’ Clover or Columbine said, pulling the
Manchester Guardian
from under her seat.
    â€˜You spend far too much time reading those stupid things,’ Rose said. ‘We should throw them all out.’
    The twins were aghast. The newspapers stacked in their father’s library were their only source of information about anything. Their loss would be a calamity. ‘Actually, I think it would be horrible, cleaning up other girls’ mess in our room,’ they said quickly and in unison, to distract.
    â€˜Better to live somewhere else, do you think?’ Columbine asked.
    â€˜Don’t be silly,’ Clover rejoined. They began to argue.
    â€˜What would happen to Garth?’ Lily was growing unhappier by the moment. The twins stopped arguing. The newspaper danger was past.
    â€˜I’d join the army,’ Garth said. Silence. Only Rose, Lilyand Garth could remember their father going off to the Crimea, his sword spangle sharp and his boots shining. All of them, however, could remember his return, his sword broken and his boots cracked. That he had returned at all was a miracle, so their mother had told them. But an odd sort of miracle, because he’d looked so strange and thin, and along with spent shells for Garth, a horseshoe for Daisy and some peculiar Turkish hats and shawls for the others, he had also brought home his drinking habit.
    â€˜What about Father Nameless?’ Lily’s eyes brimmed with anxiety as one worry tumbled over another.
    â€˜Aunt Barbara wouldn’t take him,’ said Clover or Columbine matter-of-factly. ‘He smells, and she’s no bell for him to toll.’
    â€˜And the Dead Girl? What will happen to her?’
    Nobody had an answer to that. Garth turned himself upside down. ‘I know what will happen to Pa,’ he said.
    Five pairs of eyes swivelled towards him. ‘He’ll go and live with Skelton and keep on buying horses.’ His bitterness was the sour, embedded bitterness of the old rather than the impetuous, passing bitterness of the young. Rose flinched and blamed herself. As the oldest, she should be able to make life sweet.
    Daisy spoke without really meaning to. ‘What happens if Pa’s right about The One?’
    Garth turned himself back upright, stalked out of the room and slammed the door.
    â€˜Don’t daydream, Daisy,’ Rose advised when the echo had died away. ‘Pa’s never been right before. Why should this horse be any different?’
    â€˜I don’t know,’ Daisy said, ‘except that Hartslove’s never been for sale before.’
    â€˜And you think that’ll make the horse run faster?’ Rose tried not to sound exasperated.
    Daisy saw the horse’s face again. ‘It might,’ she said.
    Rose pressed her fingers together. ‘Forget about the horse – except I suppose we could sell it.’
    â€˜That would upset Pa,’ Lily said.
    â€˜He’d get his four hundred guineas back.’ Clover and Columbine spoke together.
    Rose pressed her fingers harder. Four hundred guineas. For a horse. She stood up, not because the council of war was at an end, but because if she didn’t move she thought she might scream. ‘I’ll get a job,’ she announced.
    They all stared at her.
    â€˜Doing what?’ Daisy asked.
    â€˜You think there’s nothing I can do?’ Rose was very sharp indeed.
    â€˜No – no,’ said Daisy. ‘I just meant – I just meant . . .’ She shook her head. ‘Pa will never let you.’
    â€˜Pa must never know,’ said Rose fiercely. She sat down again. ‘Mrs Snips will help me.’
    â€˜I could work too,’ said Lily. ‘I’d do anything so that we don’t have to leave here. Anything.’ It was unlike Lilyto be so emphatic. Clover or Columbine began to bite her nails.
    â€˜Don’t bite