Stockingford is associated with two contrasting domestic settings: the imposing but neglected Whittleford Lodge, on the Stockingford side of town, and the small cottage where Ashley Huntley keeps a mistress. The locality connects the arrival of Sunday Small at her new place of work with the private estrangement within the Huntley marriage.

Setting and Locations

Whittleford Lodge stands on the Stockingford side of town. When Sunday arrives with Lady Lavinia Huntley, she sees a three-storey house reached by wide stone steps and marked by a tarnished lion-head door-knocker. Peeling paint and grey, tattered lace curtains make the building seem neglected, despite its imposing scale and signs of former beauty. The steps beside its low iron railings lead down towards the basement kitchen.

Associations and Significance

Stockingford is also where Ashley Huntley keeps a mistress in a small cottage. Lavinia knows of the arrangement, which has long since ceased to trouble her; the account places this knowledge within a marriage already marked by disappointment and estrangement. Set beside the grand, deteriorating Lodge, the cottage is another domestic address in the locality, but one connected to Ashley’s concealed relationship rather than Sunday’s new employment.