‘Setting the fires, making the beds, dusting, helping a bit in the kitchen.’

‘Good. We’re not so grand here as Mr Sudell, so you’ll need to be able to turn your hand to most things, and even help me as a lady’s maid on occasion.’

‘I’m sure that won’t be a problem, Mrs Feilden. I’d like to be a lady’s maid.’

‘Good. Where are you living at the moment?’ she asked.

‘With my sister and brother-in-law on Water Street.’

‘What are they called?’

‘Eastwood.’

‘Titus Eastwood? The Reformer?’ she asked.

‘Aye. Yes,’ said Hannah, wondering if Mrs Feilden was about to change her mind.

‘My husband knows him,’ she said. ‘He says he’s a good man.’

‘It was Titus that told me about the job.’

‘Then it must have been my husband who mentioned it to him. I’m sure he’ll be very pleased. Would you like to come on Monday? At nine o’clock? You can spend a couple of weeks with Jane showing you what’s what before she goes – if you don’t mind sharing a room with her.’

‘No … no, I don’t mind,’ said Hannah, amazed at how easy it had been, and Mrs Feilden seemed nice. She thought that she was going to enjoy working for her.

The butler showed her the way out and told her to come to the back door when she returned. Hannah thanked him and stepped out of the gate on to King Street. It didn’t seem real. She knew that she should get home so that she could tell Titus when he came in for his dinner. And she would have to tell Mary too, but she couldn’t face that just yet.

‘I’ve got a job,’ Hannah told her friend as they walked through the market on Saturday afternoon.

‘Which mill?’

‘It isn’t in a mill. I’ve a job as a parlour maid again.’

‘How did tha manage that without a character?’

‘A friend of our Jennet’s spoke for me,’ she lied.

‘Where is it?’

‘King Street. The Feildens’ house.’

‘I suppose it were that Mrs Whittaker, the vicar’s wife, as put ’em on to thee. Jennet always were tight with her.’

‘Aye,’ said Hannah. The vicar’s wife had helped her sister out when Titus was away, but there seemed to have been a cooling between them since he’d come back. Jennet had told her that Mrs Whittaker had been cross that Titus had refused the road-building work at first. Hannah could understand why. It wasn’t work for a skilled weaver, but he’d taken it in the end – out of desperation, she supposed, but she knew that her sister wasn’t as friendly with Mrs Whittaker any more. They said ‘Good morning’ at church, but it was always a bit strained. Still, if Mary thought that Mrs Whittaker had spoken for her, it was better than having to explain where her character reference had really come from.

‘Was there just the one job going?’ she asked.

‘Aye. I’d have told thee if there’d been two.’