‘I’m so sorry,’ Ellen murmured. ‘I never thought. You could have shared ours,’ but then thought that proud Edyta would never have asked, and in similar circumstances neither would she. The necessity for such indignity should not be permitted, she considered.

Edyta waved them off, saying she would come the next day to see Harry; Lizzie went with Tannerson in the trap, Karl set off next in his carpenter’s cart with last-minute items, all six children climbed into Filip’s wagon with Anna, and Ellen travelled with Billy and Florence in the Holderness cart. Billy said they might as well come to see the cottage now and visit Harry on the way home.

‘What is it with our Lizzie and Tannerson?’ Billy asked as they drove. ‘And why is he being so helpful? Most unusual for an employer, isn’t it?’

‘He’s a good man,’ Ellen said. ‘I think he feels guilty over the fire at ’mill. Two young lads died, and he has them and Harry on his conscience. Some things had been going on that he wasn’t aware of and I believe he’s blaming himself. He wasn’t unscathed, either. He has some burns on his hands that he generally keeps covered. I think he must have tried to put out ’flames on young Jim. He was bandaged when I first saw him after ’explosion.’

‘Mm. And Lizzie?’

‘What? What about her?’ She cast a glance at him. ‘She’s fortunate to get such a position, isn’t she? But he’s used to working with women. His late wife ran his office previously.’

‘Ah!’ he said, and changed the subject.

It won’t feel like home at the cottage until Harry’s there, Ellen thought, waving back at Thomas who was waving to her from the tail end of the wagon in front. They were all travelling in convoy, with Tannerson and Lizzie leading the way towards what was once the village of Sculcoates.

‘It’s been ruined, hasn’t it?’ Florence said, looking at the industry along the river side. ‘It must have been a pretty hamlet once.’

‘Aye, but with no work for ’inhabitants,’ Billy reminded her. ‘That’s why ’workhouses were built, to care for those who couldn’t care for themselves, and at least there are now places where men can work and earn a wage; there’s industry here to feed folk and their animals, and houses to live in, even though some of them are dire, but that’s ’fault of ’landlords for not keeping them in good order.’