Ellen’s face drained of colour. ‘A child?’ she whispered. ‘But – surely you don’t employ children?’

‘I do not,’ he said sharply. ‘The cotton mills do, in spite of the Factory Act. But I don’t.’ He looked at her directly and his words were abrupt. ‘I worked in a cotton mill when I was a child. I know what it’s like and I won’t allow it in my mill!’

So he’s ’same as us, she thought. He’s hauled himself up into a position of a mill owner from – what? Who knows what he’s been through, and now isn’t the time to ask, even if one could.

‘Well,’ she said at last. ‘Most folk I know worked when we were not much more than children. I left school and worked in service when I was young, but working wi’ machinery at that age must surely be wrong.’

‘It is wrong,’ he agreed, but his tone was softer. ‘There are laws that say machinery must be fenced off to avoid injury, but not all employers follow those rules, and that is why …’ He paused for a moment and then went on, ‘That’s why I do my best to ensure my employees are safe and also why I take out insurance in case anyone is injured due to no fault of their own. Your husband comes under that category; he was trying to stop a perceived fire risk.’

‘Really?’ she breathed. It was the sort of thing Harry would do, she thought, and maybe he took a personal risk to do it.

‘So, don’t worry that Harry will lose his job. He’ll get some money whilst he’s recuperating, but there’ll have to be an inquiry first and that might take some time. There are inspectors all over it. ’ He sighed. ‘Mill isn’t working, of course, and will have to be rebuilt.’

‘There’s a young man in ’bed next to Harry,’ she said. ‘I think he’s one of your men.’

He nodded. ‘So he is. I’m going to visit ’hospital later today and hope to talk to him. You can come with me if you wish?’

She would dearly have loved to do so, but who would look after the children? She couldn’t take them with her. She explained this to Mr Tannerson, who understood at once.

‘But would you take a letter to Harry?’ she asked. ‘Would you mind?’

‘I don’t mind at all,’ he said. ‘He’ll be pleased to hear that you’re coping.’

‘Thank you. And, Mr Tannerson, if he asks how I am, please would you say that I’m perfectly well.’

He stood up. ‘And are you?’