‘I’m sorry I’m so early, Mrs Randell,’ Tannerson said when she opened the front door to him. ‘But I thought I’d call before going to the mill. I’ve so much paperwork to sort out that I might forget at the end of the day.’

She invited him to take a seat by the fire and asked him if he would like a cup of tea or coffee. He asked for coffee, which she was pleased about as Anna had left some behind yesterday and that would save her precious tea. The room was tidy. Lizzie had made the beds and she and the children were sitting on one of them; she was reading them a story and up to now no one had missed the little hen.

She introduced him to Lizzie and said that she was staying with her at present to look after the children so that she could visit Harry.

Tannerson looked about him. ‘It’s very homely, Mrs Randell,’ he said. ‘How many rooms do you have?’

She gazed at him; of course he wouldn’t know. ‘Just this one, sir.’ She pointed to the empty doorway. ‘We’ve a scullery with a sink and an inside tap for water, which is a blessing. And we’ve a copper outside in ’yard for doing a big wash, but it’s still too cold to use it just yet, and besides, we’ve to save our coal and wood to heat this fire, so I go to ’wash house when I can.’ Which isn’t as often as I’d like for it’s all extra money to pay out, she thought.

‘And you’ve – what …’ he glanced round, ‘a stove of some kind for cooking?’

‘No,’ she said. ‘I cook on the fire.’ The kettle was simmering, and she lifted it off with a cloth and poured water into the jug that contained Anna’s coffee grounds.

‘Ah!’ he exclaimed. ‘Yes, now I recall that Harry did tell me.’ He frowned, looking into the flames in the grate. ‘And you’re saying this is where you cooked your Christmas dinner?’

Lizzie looked up from the storybook and her mouth shaped a round O as if she too had only just thought about it. When she had arrived they had eaten the cooked chicken that Billy had brought and had had chicken broth each day since.

‘Yes,’ Ellen said matter of factly. ‘Fire draws well so there’s heat for cooking, though it’s a slow process; and I can boil ’kettle for bathing or mekkin’ hot drinks, though not both at ’same time. And it keeps us warm. I think that there are people worse off than us. We’re lucky that Harry found work when he did and we can pay ’rent.’