Alice’s Secret: A gripping story of love, loss and a historical mystery finally revealed

She took a deep breath. ‘I think if you tried to make this relevant to their everyday lives it would help.’

Richard still looked uncomprehending so she pressed on. ‘I mean, if Charlie earns five shillings a week, and gives his mother three shillings towards the running of the house, and has to pay a shilling in fines and stoppages at the mill’ – here all the children laughed, seeing that Alice knew Charlie only too well – ‘how much money has he got left? And if he wants to save sixpence, but wants to buy a penn’orth of sweets from Mrs Wrigglesworth’s shop’ – more laughter – ‘how much does he have left then?’

Alice laid the sums out on her slate as she spoke and held it up for the children to see. Richard’s confusion seemed to have grown and she felt her impatience rising. With a sharp look, she quelled the giggles and unrest that had broken out in the writing group and thought rapidly.

‘We’ll change the lesson a bit. I’d like this group’ – she indicated the arithmetic group – ‘to introduce themselves to Master Richard and tell him about the numbers in their life. So, how old they are, the numbers of brothers and sisters that they have, and the number of people in their family that work in the mill. Then we will put all the numbers together and over the next few weeks we will talk about average numbers, and how to work them out.’

Alice looked at Richard. She hoped he would seize the lifeline she was offering him. At least it would allow him to learn a little about his pupils’ lives, and perhaps to see how he could make arithmetic relevant and useful to them.

‘And tomorrow, I will ask Mr Ramsay if we can borrow the abacus from his office to help with our sums.’ She hoped the novelty would add an extra incentive to get on with things.

As she turned back to her own group, Alice was relieved to see Richard gather his group to him and to hear him start to question them. Even if they got nowhere with the project she’d set them, at least he would start to gain a bit of an insight into their lives.

So how had she moved from irritation to these complicated emotions? When had she stopped feeling annoyed by his uncertainty in the classroom, and started to see it for what it was: shyness and lack of experience? When had she started to respond to his vulnerability, finding herself protecting him from the children? Sharp and canny in spotting weak spots, they soon got over their awe of Master Richard and were quick to tease and fluster him. With no experience of quelling wildness, he was at a loss, until Alice stepped in and exerted discipline. She had no need to raise her voice or threaten – the children instantly understood that she meant what she said. And in any case, they had no desire to displease her.