I woke to feel sunlight on my face. Gracie was sat at the foot of my bed with a tray of food on her lap.

‘Morning, sleepyhead,’ she grinned. ‘You’ve been asleep ages. Almost a whole day and night, I reckon.’

‘Blimey, have I?’

I sat up and rubbed my face. Here I was, back in our attic room, where just a few nights before we’d talked of ghosts. It felt like an age ago, though Gracie didn’t seem in the mood for reminiscences. She put the tray down with a thump and started tugging at the covers.

‘I’ve orders to get you out of bed,’ she said, all excited.

‘I’ll be leaving soon as I’m dressed. Don’t worry yourself.’

‘You in’t leaving yet.’

‘What d’you mean?’

She didn’t answer, muttering instead about fetching hot water. ‘We’ll need you to look your best,’ she said, and shut the door behind her.

I didn’t have a clue what she was on about; I was still half daft with sleep. Bit by bit it came back to me, all that had happened.

Then it hit me hard.

I’d slept all this time and not dreamed of Kit. Not once. I sank down into the bed again, feeling wretched. Maybe I’d just slept too long and deep. Perhaps it’d come back to me later, the way dreams sometimes do. But the emptiness inside me felt real. I was fooling myself, wasn’t I? I knew what this meant. I’d known it yesterday. It was over.

Kit was gone.

The sun kept on shining through the little window in the roof. A downpour would’ve suited me better. Or perhaps Kit was smiling, and maybe, just maybe, the sunshine was his way of showing it. And if he was at peace, then I should surely be glad. I’d done the thing he’d wanted me to do. The truth around his death had been revealed. And what a sad sort of truth it was. Two mothers blinded by love.

Gracie bustled in again with a pitcher of steaming water and my own frock, which looked all pressed and clean.

‘Come on then,’ she said. ‘Look lively!’

‘I’m going straight home. You don’t need to fuss,’ I said.

‘Not yet you’re not. Someone wants to see you first.’

‘Who?’

‘You’ll see.’

She was hellbent on getting me ready, bidding me wash and dress in the blink of an eye. She even tried pinning my hair as I bent over to lace my boots.

‘Ouch!’ I cried as she stabbed my scalp for the hundredth time. ‘What’s the flipping hurry?’

And then I remembered Will.

I seized her hands. ‘It’s Will, in’t it? Is he all right? He in’t taken a turn for the worse?’

Gracie laughed. ‘He’s taken quite a turn, now you ask. He’s driving Cook mad, playing the fool!’

The relief quite hit me. I even had to blink away a few tears.

*

Gracie rushed me down the back stairs. She didn’t seem to bat an eyelid, not even at the darkest bits of the staircase where there weren’t any windows.

When we reached the bottom, I said, ‘Any bother here last night?’

She shook her head. ‘Not a thing.’

I couldn’t feel sad. In fact, a little shiver of excitement ran through me. It was happening, wasn’t it? It really was happening. Kit and Ada were now at peace. And wherever that peaceful place might be, I hoped they’d be there together.

As we stepped into the passageway, two maids I’d not seen before went by. Each was carrying an end of a heavy-looking trunk. Oddly, as they passed us they seemed to want to catch my eye, to bid me good morning, in a way that had me blushing since I didn’t even know their names.

‘What’s going on?’ I asked.

‘You’ll see,’ Gracie said. ‘And folk is all saying it’s down to you.’

What the flip was she on about?

Mr Phelps stepped out of his pantry. My guts turned. Oh heck. He wouldn’t want to see me again.

‘Good day to you, Matilda,’ he said. ‘I trust you are suitably refreshed.’

Gobsmacked, I looked at Gracie. This was getting stranger by the minute.

‘Just say summat nice,’ she hissed in my ear.

‘I . . . ummm . . . yes. Thank you.’

And we went on our way.

At the baize door, Dorcas was waiting. She looked different, in a smart grey dress with no cap and no pinny. Then I saw the bunch of keys at her hip.

‘Mrs Jessop’s leaving us for a while, and I’m stepping in as housekeeper.’

‘Mrs Jessop? Where’s she going?’

‘You and your questions!’ Dorcas smiled.

So she’d got her dream. I was glad for her and wanted to say so, only she was set on rushing me on.

‘I’m to take you up to her Ladyship.’

I stopped, more confused than ever. ‘Hang on. I thought we was going to see Will.’

‘Will Potter’ll keep.’ She tucked her arm through mine. ‘Besides, she’s been asking for you all morning. It seems you’ve made quite an impression.’

A thrill ran through me again. It wasn’t just the back stairs that were different this morning: the whole place seemed changed. Dorcas led me out into the hallway and up the stairs. At the top we turned right towards the front of the house. I stopped dead.

‘Oh no, not Kit’s room, I can’t go in there. I can’t bear it.’

‘Go on. She’s waiting for you.’

Dorcas tapped at the door, then nudged me forwards as Lady Barrington called from inside. Feeling sick, I went in.

And gasped.

All the windows were wide open, making the room feel cool and fresh. There was no fire lit; the grate had been swept clean. Packing cases stood open, their straw spilling onto the floor. The bed had been stripped, the books and pens almost cleared. Bobbing her head in my direction was another new maid. She put down her work and left the room.

It was only then I noticed her Ladyship. She was stood as usual by the window, and she looked so small and slight I’d have hardly known it was her. Her frock was as fine as any I’d seen her wear. But this time it wasn’t black: it was the colour of doves. She still wore the brooch over her heart and indeed it looked well on her.

On seeing me, she rushed to my side like some long-lost friend. I was mightily taken aback.

‘Tilly! You’re awake at last!’

She’d even called me Tilly. I didn’t know quite what to say.

‘I can see this is a shock to you,’ she said. ‘I’m trying to be brave, myself. But it’s no good holding on to these things of Kit’s, is it? It’ll never bring him back.’

‘No, your Ladyship.’

And she was right, of course, but it did make me low, seeing Kit’s things in boxes like he really was gone. The last dream I’d had came back to me then, of Kit and me high above the snow, and his fingers slipping out of my grasp. Here we were, doing what he’d wanted us to do. We were letting go at last.

‘Are you still set on leaving us?’ said Lady Barrington. ‘Can I not tempt you to stay?’

Just a few days ago, I’d have given my eye teeth for this job. But our weasel of a landlord didn’t scare me now. What Ma and me would face, we’d face together.

‘We’re desperate for money, it’s true. But my ma needs me and I need her. We’ll think of something, somehow.’

And though I didn’t say so, the real reason I’d come here was for Kit. Now he was gone, Frost Hollow Hall was nothing more to me than a big old house with far too many floors to clean.

Lady Barrington smiled. ‘A mother would be blessed to have such a daughter.’

I felt my cheeks flush with pride.

‘And don’t fret about money. Arrangements will be made. I cannot ever repay you for what you’ve done.’

Then she held out her hand like she meant me to shake it. I gave mine a quick wipe on my skirts and held it out to her. She took it and pulled me close.

‘I have to tell you. Something extraordinary has happened.’ Her voice had dropped to a thrilling whisper.

‘Really?’

‘Can you believe it? Last night I had a dream.’

My heart leapt. ‘Oh! Tell me!’

‘I dreamed I was in this very room. It was filled with sunlight and birdsong, and Kit was here, standing right where you are now. An angel appeared – it was calling to him, beckoning for him to join it. He wanted to go, but before he went he took my hand.’

I bit back the tears.

Lady Barrington let go of me then, moving to her place at the window and tilting her face to the breeze. ‘He said something to me. Just one simple word – that was all. But heavens, how I needed to hear it!’

‘What was it?’

She turned to me, her whole face smiling.

‘Live.’