My mother came up to the new house after all was sorted out and said she would be able to manage until she could purchase a house somewhere so, of course, we felt very unsettled.

Having been in the house for about six months, we discovered it was a mundane existence and required little livening up, so we thought of taking either a boarder or letting some rooms to someone with whom we could interchange ideas.We advertised in the ‘Daily Telegraph’ and had several replies and one person called at the door. He was a very nice congenial sort of chap and said that he had a young wife and would well like furnished apartments with a small kitchen arrangement where she could do a bit of cooking.

Well, these two people came along one evening with all their belongings, portmanteaus, rugs and cushions etc. The man was of medium height, very dark and about fortyish. She was the essence of beauty; young with golden hair and large blue eyes which looked so innocent. They took up residence and we often spent evenings together - playing cards or telling fortunes.

One very hot summer she came into our room and said she was going to see a friend off from St Pancreas Station and that she would not be home till evening, or early afternoon.

Everything was quiet in the house with the hot sun pouring down on the lawn and no one on the street. My mother dozed on the sofa and my aunt, who was staying with us, sat at her  

window which was wide open to let in what little breeze there was.

Suddenly she was aroused from her reverie by hearing a loud thud and a groan. She hurried out into the garden and there, laying on the grass, was Isolde, this young wife, our new tenant! She had jumped from her window on the second floor and Iay on her back groaning. When questioned, she said that a man had followed her home; had entered the house after her, locked her in the bedroom and said, “Now my beauty - I’ve got you!”

Then he had taken all her jewellery and, going over to a picture of her which hung on the wall, he had smashed the glass saying, “I’ll have this and you can tell your man he can keep the frame.”

Then he left the room locking the door behind her and went quickly down the stairs.

My mother sent a telegram to the husband and he came back in a cab from London, terribly upset and said, “She didn’t know the man.”

Then we built a story around her. She must have known the man otherwise he would not have taken her picture. Probably he was her husband and the other man was her lover, the one who had bought her to our house.

She was taken to a nursing home in Leigham Court and her husband returned to remove all her belongings saying it would be better if they went away.