Harry looked down at his boots; there were wisps of straw still clinging to the soles even though he’d scraped them before he came in. Then he looked up. ‘I was going to ask you – how would you feel about going to live in Hull?’

CHAPTER FOUR

Ellen said nothing. She couldn’t think of anything to say. She felt that the breath had been sucked out of her. The worst thing that had ever happened was Mary becoming ill, but now the thought of leaving all she had ever known, her parents and family, and travelling to an unknown place, somewhere she had never been, added to her distress. She felt dizzy and abruptly sat down.

‘Don’t worry about it.’ Harry’s voice seemed to come from far away. ‘It was onny a thought. I’ve upset you, haven’t I? I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said, not on top of ’worry you’ve had wi’ Mary.’

She opened and closed her mouth but no words came out.

‘We’ll talk about it later,’ Harry said hastily. ‘I’ll have to go. Charlesworth’ll be looking for me.’

She nodded. ‘Go,’ she said huskily. ‘Go on. We’ll talk when you get home.’

He hesitated as he reached the door. ‘Don’t worry, will you? Just mek sure that ’bairn is all right.’

‘I will,’ she whispered, but her brown eyes were large with anxiety as he opened the door and gave her an apprehensive glance.

Harry had always looked after her, kept any anxieties away from her, but now, she realized as she sat in the quiet of the room, she must share the worries, must not let him take all the responsibilities on his shoulders. Decisions on their future must be taken together. They’d talk over their prospects, and if moving away was what they had to do, then so be it; it would be as difficult for Harry as it would be for her. Harder, in fact, for farming was all he had ever known.

Later that evening, Mary seemed a little better, though she was fractious and had difficulty swallowing. Ellen trickled honey and cool water down her throat and that seemed to ease her discomfort; she gave her more willow bark and by the time Harry came home she had fallen asleep again and was curled up back in her bed.

Ellen had made a casserole of pork and vegetables which she and Harry ate together and he remarked how quiet it was without the children.

‘Well, they would’ve been in bed by now,’ Ellen reminded him. He agreed that they would have been, but said that knowing they were in the next room was always comforting. He had gone in to check on Mary and was relieved to see that she seemed to be sleeping evenly and that her breathing was easier.

‘So tell me,’ Ellen went on. ‘What was this about going to Hull?’