But she couldn’t settle; the children were awake now and she dressed them and wiped their faces and hands with a damp flannel, gave them a breakfast of bread and jam and waited for the knock on the door.

It came quickly. It was Edyta and she’d been running.

‘Ellen,’ she said breathlessly. ‘There’s been an accident at Tannerson’s mill. I was stopped from going past, they are waiting for transport to take people to hospital. The grain fired, someone said, but I don’t know what that means.’

Ellen stared at her. She knew that if standing stacks of corn weren’t turned regularly the heat built up and could ignite without the aid of carelessly dropped sulphur or phosphorus sticks. Could that happen with grain heaps? Or perhaps the oil had caught fire during the seed-crushing process?

‘I should go.’ Her voice came out in a strangulated whisper.

‘Yes,’ Edyta said. ‘That is what I thought you would say. That is why I came back. I will look after children. Wrap up warm in case you have to wait.’

Ellen nodded and went to unhook her coat and shawl which were hanging behind the door. ‘Your work?’ she said. ‘You’ll miss your shift.’

Edyta waved away the suggestion. ‘It does not matter,’ she said. ‘There are many who will miss their shifts today. People are helping to quell the fire.’

‘There’s a fire? Of course there is.’ She wasn’t thinking straight. She was rigid with fear. Someone banged on the outside door, and as Edyta in her haste had left it undone Filip pushed it open and hers as well.

‘Come with me,’ he said, when he saw Ellen putting on her coat. ‘Has Harry gone to work? What time did he go?’

‘I – I don’t know,’ she stammered. ‘Early; he’s always early.’

‘Come then.’ He took her arm. ‘I will take you. Edyta – can you?’

‘Yes,’ she answered his unspoken question. ‘I stay.’

Filip nodded. ‘Anna is coming; she is dressing our children.’

Ellen looked from Filip to Edyta. Does this mean they think the worst? They think that Harry might be injured? She began to shake so much that she couldn’t fasten the buttons on her coat.

‘Let me do that.’ Filip quickly fastened them for her, and then wrapped her shawl around her head and shoulders. ‘You must not worry. We go only to find out that Harry is safe. Tak? Nothing more.’

With his arm on her shoulder, he led her out, and Thomas set up a screeching wail at her disappearing back. ‘It is all right,’ Filip told her, guiding her down the outside steps as she looked over her shoulder. ‘He must learn that Mama is not always there. He will smile when other children come.’

‘Yes,’ she answered mechanically, and wondered how she had suddenly become so compliant under someone else’s guidance.