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neck. He stood by the side of her bed, candle in one hand and penis in the other, and ostentatiously licked his lips.
    ‘We shall have such a night together, you and me!’ he told her. ‘You shall give me children, to be my obedient heirs, and I can dispossess those treacherous sons of mine who seek to rob me of my fortune!’
    Beatrice said, ‘ Cousin Sarah ,’ but she was so frightened that she could only manage a whisper. She cleared her throat as the wild man took another step nearer and was about to shout out, ‘Cousin Sarah!’ when Jeremy appeared in the doorway, with his own candle-holder raised. He was wearing a nightcap and a long white nightshirt.
    ‘ Father !’ he snapped, as if he were talking to a disobedient child. ‘What are you doing in here? Go back to your bed this instant!’
    The wild man cried out, ‘Wooo!’ and pivoted around, startled, letting his candle fall to the floor. He nearly fell over sideways, but Jeremy seized his scrawny arm and pushed him back towards the door.
    ‘Quick, Bea! Beatrice ! The candle!’ he said. Beatrice climbed out of bed and picked it up, just as the proddy rug was beginning to smoulder.
    Jeremy pulled and pushed Roderick downstairs. All the way down, Roderick made a high keening sound in the back of his throat, more like a disobedient dog than a man, and when he had returned him to his room, Jeremy slammed his door quite loudly. None of this seemed to disturb cousin Sarah, however – or else she was used to it. Beatrice sat on the side of her bed holding the candle until she heard Jeremy coming back upstairs.
    ‘I’m so sorry for that!’ he told her. ‘He didn’t hurt you, did he? His mind has gone completely.’
    ‘I’m all right,’ said Beatrice, trying to sound brave, although she was shivering from cold and shock.
    Jeremy sat down on the bed next to her. ‘If he ever bothers you again, you must cry out for me immediately. I’ll always come at once. You should really lock your door at night.’
    ‘Your mother took the key away. She said it was too much of a risk to lock the door, in case of fire.’
    ‘Oh, she has a terror of that. Her own parents died in a fire when she was young. She saw them beating at their window with their hair alight and there was nothing she could do to save them.’
    ‘That’s terrible!’
    ‘Well... she was taken in afterwards by her aunt, which is why she felt duty-bound to take you in. She has little natural sympathy for other people, Bea, I know that, but she strongly believes in doing her Christian duty.’
    Jeremy put his arm around her shoulders and said, ‘There… are you feeling better now? I’ll tell you what I’ll do, I’ll bring you a wooden wedge that you can push under the bottom of your door at night so that father can’t get in.’
    ‘Thank you,’ said Beatrice. ‘But what if there is a fire?’
    ‘I’ll kick the door open and rescue you, don’t you worry about that.’
    Jeremy took the candle-holder from her and she climbed back into bed.
    ‘Sleep well, Bea,’ he said, with a smile. ‘You and me, we’re going to be great friends, you wait and see.’
    He leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead. Then he stood up and left the room, quietly closing the door behind him. Beatrice pulled the blankets tightly around her and lay in the darkness with her eyes open. She almost wished that she believed in ghosts, so that she could feel her mother bend over her as she always used to.
    ‘ Goodnight, mama ,’ she whispered. ‘ Goodnight, papa .’
    But there was no answer, and outside the city of Birmingham was silent except for somebody drunkenly singing in the street.

Eight
    She first saw Francis on the morning of 17 March, as they returned from the Sunday morning service at St Philip’s – Beatrice and Jeremy walking in front, while cousin Sarah followed a few steps behind with Mrs Shelley, their widowed neighbour, whose stiff black skirts bustled noisily on the pavement when she