William was gone a while but returned with a smile of triumph and showed her the tickets. ‘We can sail tomorrow on a packet ship!’ he said. ‘We couldn’t have planned it better.’

He went out and bought more pies from a street vendor. They weren’t as good as the ones they’d eaten earlier, baked by Mrs Hall, and for a moment Mary felt a wrench of homesickness. Did she really want to go? She wasn’t sure. But it was too late to change her mind now. She had no way of getting home.

Even though she was weary and aching from the journey, she allowed William to make love to her for the first time before they slept. He was clumsy and unsure and she didn’t have the patience to guide him. She was just glad when he was finished and hoped that it wasn’t enough to get her with child again. She must try to find a druggist before they got on the boat tomorrow, she reminded herself as she drifted off to sleep with the sound of rumbling wheels and strident voices rising from the streets below.

That same morning, Hannah insisted on walking Peggy to school, just so that she could smile at her future husband. Peggy was put out about it.

‘I don’t need you to take me,’ she kept telling her as they made their way up to Thunder Alley. She’d understand why one day, thought Hannah, when she fell in love herself.

James was ringing the bell and he grinned across the street when he saw her. One or two of the boys nudged each other and smirked. Hannah smiled back and stood until the girls had gone in. Then she tore herself away as the doors thudded shut and she went down to the Star to see Mary.

She knocked timidly on the door and called out to say who it was when she heard Mrs Hall bellow that she wasn’t open yet.

‘Come in,’ Mrs Hall said when she’d unbarred the door. Hannah stepped into the familiar parlour, empty now, where Mrs Hall had been wiping down the tables. ‘Tha’s just missed her,’ she said.

‘Oh, has she gone out? I don’t mind waiting.’

Mrs Hall shook her head. ‘She’s gone for good,’ she told Hannah.

‘What? Where? Has she got work at Woodfold?’ Hannah felt let down again that her friend had left without telling her.

‘No.’ Mrs Hall waved towards a chair. ‘Sit down,’ she said. ‘I’m not supposed to say owt, so tha must swear as tha can keep it secret.’

‘Of course I can,’ said Hannah, wondering what she was about to be told.

‘She’s gone with William Hart. They caught the early coach to Liverpool. They’re off to America.’

Hannah stared at her. ‘William Hart?’ she repeated. ‘I thought she hated him.’

‘Well, she were never that keen on him,’ admitted Mrs Hall.

‘So why did she go with him?’

‘She were indebted to him,’ Mrs Hall told her. ‘He’s the one who’s been paying for her to stay here. It were him that paid Dr Barlow too. He’s soft on her,’ she added.