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present but we could give you a call if anyone else is added to the list. Good staff are always hard to find, Mrs Maynard – and just as hard to place.’
    Dilys glared at her but Miss Robbins’ professional smile was firmly in place.
    ‘Perhaps your best option would be a nurse and a part-time housekeeper. I could show you . . .’
    ‘No thank you! You have wasted enough of my time!’ She stood up. ‘I shall speak to my sister-in-law and we will direct our enquiries elsewhere. I think you have been less than helpful and I don’t care for your attitude. I shall write to your employer to tell her so. Good afternoon!’
    She swept from the office and Miss Robbins watched her go with mixed feelings. She muttered, ‘God help your brother with a woman like you for a sister!’ and turned back to her typewriter.
    Dilys walked along the street in deep displeasure. The arrogance of the young woman, she thought. She was now on her way to meet Hettie at Miss Maude’s Teashop and had expected to have the names and details of at least two housekeepers for them to consider. Instead she had nothing to show for her efforts and had been casually treated by an impertinent young madam. No doubt Hettie would have something scathing to say about her failure.
    Miss Maude’s Teashop had always been a favourite meeting place of theirs. The sandwiches were wafer thin, the biscuits home-made and not too hard for ageing teeth, and the selection of cakes so tempting that Dilys regularly succumbed and had two. When she reached the tea shop Hettie had not arrived so she chose a table by the window from which they could watch passers-by, and settled herself to await her sister. It was a small, cosy place in which to chat with polished wooden tables and chairs, walls decorated with shelves full of quaint pottery and half a dozen water colours painted by local artists.
    Her thoughts drifted to the matter in hand and from there to the Pennington family in general. Not a very productive group, she reflected with some regret. Hardly a united family – two brothers and a sister and only two children between them. Yet their maternal aunt had had three children and their Uncle Henry, on their father’s side, had married twice and fathered eight.
    A waitress approached, complete with gingham apron and a neat cap. Dilys ordered a plate of mixed sandwiches for two and a selection of cakes. ‘Including two cream slices, please.’
    The waitress smiled. ‘They are always a favourite with our customers.’
    ‘I’m waiting for my sister and we both like them.’
    At the thought of the little feast to come, she felt marginally better and by the time Hettie arrived Dilys was smiling.
    After their greetings, the pot of tea and the sandwiches arrived.
    ‘You be mother,’ said Hettie and they were soon enjoying cucumber sandwiches while Dilys explained what had happened.
    ‘It doesn’t matter,’ her sister-in-law told her, ‘because this morning Albert searched through the advertisements and found a woman who wants a job as a housekeeper and she sounds reasonable. I cut it out for you.’ She produced the small slip of paper and handed it to Dilys.
    Respectable woman, late thirties, seeks employment as housekeeper within Bath area. Good references and further details on application.
    A telephone number followed.
    Dilys looked puzzled. ‘If she can afford a telephone, why does she need a job as a housekeeper?’
    ‘Dilys! Trust you to pour cold water on it!’
    ‘I’m sorry but . . . doesn’t it sound odd to you? We can’t be too careful.’
    ‘We can always telephone and ask her – in a roundabout way.’ Hettie shrugged.
    ‘We can certainly try her.’
    Hettie leaned forward. ‘There’s something else. I don’t want to mention this to Albert because you know how protective he is of Montague but –’ she lowered her voice – ‘if we’re truly worried about him, there’s such a thing as power of attorney !’
    Dilys’s eyes