She hesitated. ‘More or less,’ she murmured, not wanting the children to hear. ‘I’ve lost ’child I was carrying, but I don’t want Harry to know that. I don’t want him to worry. I just want him to get better and come home.’

‘Of course you do,’ he sympathized, ‘but you must also take care of yourself.’ He glanced again at the children and commented, ‘Your children are very well behaved.’

‘They are.’ She smiled, and putting out her hand she said to them, ‘Come and say hello to Mr Tannerson.’

The two girls slid off the bed and first Sarah and then Mary shyly said ‘Hello’ and then dipped a knee to him, whilst Thomas hid his face in a pillow.

Tannerson gave a wide smile and said hello back, and Ellen asked, ‘Do you have any family, Mr Tannerson?’

She saw a momentary blink of his eyelids, and his lips parted and then closed. Then he said briefly, ‘Sadly no; my late wife and I were not so fortunate,’ which led Ellen to believe that it might be a sensitive subject. When he had gone, her letter to Harry in his jacket pocket, it occurred to her that he must be the son in the family business of R. Tannerson and Son. But if his father had been a mill owner, why did he work in a cotton mill as a child?

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Two weekends later, at midday on the Saturday, Ellen opened the front door to find her brother Billy and sister Lizzie on the doorstep. Both were laden with parcels and baskets and the same old horse and wagon was tied up outside.

An image flashed across Ellen’s mind of a young boy standing watching them unpack the wagon when they’d first come here. She hadn’t seen him since – except, had she … ? The memory faded as Lizzie dropped what she was carrying and held out her arms.

The sisters hugged tightly, Ellen murmuring, ‘I’m so sorry about Albert; heartbroken for you,’ and wept whilst Billy went into her room to put down his parcels and came back for Lizzie’s. When everything was inside he returned to put his arms around both of them.

‘Come on now,’ he said in a tight voice. ‘This is no way for ’Snowden girls to behave.’ He gave a slight tug on Ellen’s plait and patted Lizzie’s shoulder and they both drew away and dried their tears, and Lizzie exclaimed at Sarah and Mary who were looking anxiously at them and Thomas whose mouth was puckered up ready to wail.

‘I’m crying with happiness at seeing you all again.’ She gathered them up in her arms. ‘It’s such a long time since I last saw you.’

‘You saw me a lot when I came to stay at Granny Snowden’s,’ Mary told her.