‘Jealous? Me? Why on earth would I be jealous of you having a visitor?’

‘And now, miss, you are blushing.’

‘I am not.’

‘You are.’ Isobel scrubbed at the dried-up egg on the plate. ‘He’s certainly easy on the eye, I’ll give you that much.’

‘Oh, stop that. Stop it right now.’

‘I speak as I find, that’s all.’

Ann shrugged. ‘And what was your visitor saying?’

‘He still has no work, apart from the census, and that’s nearly finished now because the stragglers are almost mopped up. No one is having any painting or wallpapering done and the really big houses, up in the Braids and in the Grange, all have their preferred tradesmen who have worked for them for years so there’s no room for anyone new. And those people aren’t really affected by what’s going on anyway, not in the same way as ordinary folk.’

Ann took the wet soapy plate from Isobel. ‘I’m sorry to hear that.’

‘He’s having trouble paying his rent. I don’t think he would have told you that, but he felt able to tell me.’

‘Why do you say that?’

‘Same reason everyone is. No work, and landlords who demand their shilling whether a tenant has got it or not. They’ve got the power to charge what they want.’

‘No, not that! I mean why wouldn’t he tell me?’

‘Because he wants to impress you, of course.’

‘So I will give him some work?’

‘Ann, you can be so dense sometimes. He wouldn’t tell you because he wants you to see him as a person you might want as a friend, not because he wants you to employ him.’

‘I don’t see why he would want to impress me. And anyway, he really does want me to employ him, that’s why he came to the door in the first place, isn’t it?’

Isobel could barely keep her face straight. ‘I have said it before, and I’ll say it again, sometimes you are not the brightest girl in the class, especially when it comes to matters of the heart.’

Ann shook her head. ‘There are no matters of the heart or any other place going on.’

Isobel gave the water in the bowl a last swirl to check for rogue teaspoons, and then tipped it up to sluice the dirty liquid down the plug hole. ‘You may think that now, but we’ll see what comes out in the wash.’

Ann shook the damp tea towel and inspected it before deciding it would do for another day. ‘I’m sorry he’s having such trouble.’ She folded the cloth, ready to put it on the pulley.

Isobel winked at Ann. ‘He said he would come back next week, to say hello. And I’m not going to tell you which day so you can’t go out to avoid him.’