Mrs O’Malley put the stuffed boots on the hearth and turned to Blackie. She reached for the wet socks and placed them next to the boots. Straightening, she turned to Blackie and said, ‘Now, how about a cup of nice tea? It’ll warm the cockles of your heart.’

‘Faith, and it would,’ he responded, and flashed her a wide smile.

She smiled back and felt a small rush of pleasure. There was something special and endearing about the boy. Everyone felt his warmth and friendliness and was drawn to him immediately.

His geniality was part of his natural personality, and he spoke to everyone, radiated kindness. These traits never varied, and his dark good looks played into the attraction he exuded.

After taking the bubbling kettle off the hob, Martha O’Malley filled her brown teapot with tea and then poured in the water. She left it to mash for a few minutes. She went to the larder and took out the biscuit tin, well aware Blackie liked her sweet oat biscuits.

The two of them sat in front of the roaring fire, silent, lost in their own thoughts, comfortable with each other. This easiness between them came from the longevity of their friendship, the middle-aged woman and the young boy. They understood each other perfectly.

Martha O’Malley was pondering Blackie’s clothes. The dark coat, drying now, hanging on a chairback near the fire, was threadbare and looked as if it had seen better days. And his boots, drying as well, were in poor shape, but just about held together at the moment. Fortunately the heavy-knit fisherman’s jumper was one she had knitted years ago for her son.

As for the long trousers, they were a pair Lady Lassiter, from the big house, had given to Blackie’s cousin Michael. They had been too big for him, but they fitted Blackie well. As if made to measure, Mrs O’Malley thought, her mind focusing on Lucinda, wife of Lord Robert Lassiter, the Earl of Harding, who lived in the big house on the hill above the hamlet. Her ladyship was often found giving away cast-off clothes no longer used and worn by her children, or even sometimes by Lord Robert. Blackie had been the beneficiary of her gifts and, before him, Mrs O’Malley’s son Dennis had received hand-outs, along with some of the younger village children. She was a haughty woman, and odd, no denying it, but Father O’Donovan had got on to her about gifting unwanted clothes to the village children, and she had hardly been able to refuse.

The Lassiters were an Anglo-Irish family with ancient roots in Ireland. Ancestors of Lord Lassiter had built the large house on the hill two centuries ago, and it had stood fast and strong for all these years.