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it could be mended, and told her about Miss Harriet’s disgrace. To my surprise, the housekeeper and the cook seemed to have taken Harriet’s side even more strongly than Mr Wilkins. But Mary told us that Miss Harriet had been a favourite in the kitchen since she was small; she had her own little apron and bowl and would spend hours there, making pastry and biscuits.
    Harriet was sitting up in bed, reading by the light of a candle lamp, when I went into her room with hot water and towels later that evening. ‘Oh, Miss,’ I said, hurrying over to her. ‘However can I thank you? But why did you do it? You should have let me own up and take the punishment, not you.’
    ‘Then you would have been dismissed,’ she said, all matter-of-fact. ‘And that cannot happen to stepdaughters, or I would have been sent away a long time ago. Don’t worry, it’s all over and done with now.’
    Sadly for both of us, however, this was not the case. The very next morning at breakfast, Mary told us she had just heard from Mrs Henderson that Lady Vye had given Harriet’s old nanny notice to leave. A new governess would be coming in her place, to teach Miss Harriet how to behave. Even Mary was shocked by this, despite her support for Lady Vye’s methods of child-rearing. ‘Poor Miss Harriet!’ she said, chewing her lip more anxiously than ever. ‘Nanny Roberts must be the nearest thing to a mother she’s ever had. And what about Master John? He’ll be heartbroken.’
    ‘So there are to be no more babies in the house,’ Becky said, looking meaningfully at Jemima. ‘Well, I can’t say I’m surprised, what with the Vyes in separate bedrooms and never going near each other so far as anyone can see.’
    ‘That is quite enough!’ Mary was outraged. ‘There is no call for gossip of such kind here, thank you very much. If you want to talk like that, you had better go and work in the laundry.’
    What a deal of trouble had come about because of one little china figurine! Mary said that she had heard Lady Vye had decided to dismiss Nanny Roberts some time ago (this information came from Miss de Courcy, Lady Vye’s maid), but I knew her leaving was meant as an extra punishment for Harriet and would never forgive myself for helping bring it about. However, I was soon taken up with troubles enough of my own. Mary told me to report to Mrs Henderson’s room after breakfast. There was a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach; as soon as I saw her face, I knew I was right to fear the worst.
    ‘Well, Polly Perkins,’ she began, ‘I always had my doubts about you and they seem to have been proved right. I must have told you a hundred times never to speak unless you are spoken to. Do you think I enjoyed having to stand there and listen to an account of your brazen behaviour? Well, do you?’
    ‘No, Mrs Henderson,’ I whispered.
    ‘Lady Vye told me this is the second time she’s had cause to notice you and she won’t have such an impudent hussy under her roof. And just when you were beginning to be of some use!’ She shook her head in exasperation. ‘If we weren’t expecting company, I would have sent you off to pack your bags immediately. But we are short-staffed as it is and there are guests arriving today. Stay until the ball is over and you can have a full month’s wages and your train fare home. I can’t say fairer than that - it’s only another few days. Now get out of my sight.’
    ‘Yes, Mrs Henderson,’ I said, and let myself out. I walked back down the corridor towards the servants’ hall in a daze, and then the full force of what had just happened came home to me and I had to lean against the wall for a moment to catch my breath. I had been dismissed! I was to be sent away in disgrace, with only a month’s wages to give my mother and no decent character reference to help me get another job. This was a disaster. We were in desperate need of money at home: Mother had had to cut the toes out of my sister Lizzie’s