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choked on that gag.’
    ‘Nonetheless, you might still be choking on that gag if she had not severely burnt her wrists in helping you to escape. Becket has sent for the doctor. You did thank her, I
hope?’
    ‘I did not know her wrists were burnt,’ said Rose. ‘I will see that she is amply compensated when my parents return.’
    ‘Money solves everything, heh? And how will you explain the reason why Daisy must be paid?’
    ‘They will be so glad that I am rid of her, they will pay anything.’
    ‘You are at fault, you know.’
    ‘How, sir?’
    ‘You chose to step outside your class and befriend an ex-chorus girl from the East End. It amused you to do so. You educated her and introduced her to a better way of life and now you want
to throw her back again like some toy that had failed to work.’
    ‘That is not the way it was. We were friends.’
    ‘A friendship easily broken.’
    Rose’s lip trembled. ‘I have suffered an ordeal, I am abominably hungry, and yet all you can do is rail at me over a servant.’
    ‘Aha! So Daisy is nothing more than a servant. I suggest we have her up here and ask her to explain what drew her back to her old haunts.’
    Harry rang the bell. ‘Becket, fetch Miss Daisy. Is the doctor coming?’
    ‘He will be here shortly.’
    A few moments later, Daisy was led into the parlour. ‘None of us has eaten, Becket,’ said Harry. ‘A late luncheon, I think, after the doctor has left. Pray take a seat, Miss
Levine.’
    Daisy sat down on the edge of a chair and Rose turned her head away.
    ‘I am interested to know what took you back to your old neighbourhood,’ said Harry gently. ‘First, some brandy for Miss Levine, Becket. She is looking extremely
pale.’
    He waited until Daisy took several sips of brandy.
    ‘Now,’ he prompted her.
    Daisy gave a dry sob, like a weary child. Rose turned her head and looked at her, at the white face and the bound wrists.
    ‘My lady and I were working in a room together, sir, typing out stuff from ledgers. We decided they were just making work for us. Then one of the bosses needed a temporary secretary and Ro
– I mean my lady, got the job. So I was on me . . . my . . . own. Men kept dropping in for a bit, but when they saw it was only me they left.
    ‘I began to feel that Daisy Levine was really nothing. I began to remember the old days in the theatre, where I was considered attractive. I thought I’d just go back to my own kind,
as I thought of them. That’s where I met Billy. I’d known him before, and when he asked me up to that flat for a drink, it seemed all right to go.
    ‘Like a fool, I told him the whole story. I was lonely, you see. You can’t break the barriers of class, sir. It’s flying in the face of nature.’
    Harry turned to Rose. ‘You inadvertently broke the barriers of class, Lady Rose. You joined the suffragettes and then abandoned them. You cannot go around changing the rules and expect
things to be easy. So do you want to get rid of Miss Levine and return to your comfortable and privileged life?’
    Rose thought of her pride in her job and how she had dragged Daisy along with her into this new life. She remembered Daisy’s gallantry, her spirit, and realized for the first time that she
would not have been able to go through with the business of getting a job without Daisy.
    ‘I’m sorry, Daisy,’ she said. ‘Thank you for helping me to escape. We will go on as before . . . as friends.’
    ‘Thank you, my lady.’
    ‘Rose, please.’
    ‘The doctor is here,’ said Becket.
    ‘Take him through to the back parlour. When he is finished, we will have lunch.’
    ‘Very good, sir. Miss Levine?’
    The doctor declared the burns to be bad but not serious. Daisy’s wrists were once more treated and bandaged. She was made to swallow two aspirin and told to rest.
    After the doctor had gone, Becket produced a meal he had ordered from a restaurant in the King’s Road.
    During the lunch, Rose suddenly said, ‘I