In the novel The Man in the Brown Suit, Emily was the maid-of-all-work at the Beddingfeld home. She was one of the people who encouraged Anne Beddingfeld to write down her adventures.
She “walked out” whenever occasion offered with a large sailor to whom she was affianced. In between times, to “keep her hand in,” as she expressed it, she walked out with the greengrocer’s young man, and the chemist’s assistant.