When Anna had left, Harry said he was going to take a walk. He wanted to test himself to see how fit he really was. He set off with a normal stride until he was out of sight of the cottage and then tried a faster pace, just to see if he could. His breath quickened and he started to run, just a short distance at first before he had to slow down, then faster again, and then he turned back towards home. He walked by the grassy narrow drain and saw bubbling frogspawn and the whooshing tails of tadpoles, and stopped when he saw the dark head of a frog in the midst of it.

The sight of it lifted his spirits and reminded him of his childhood, when he and Billy would look in a pond or a ditch and count the number of frogs they saw. I’d like to see him again, he mused as he walked on. He came to see me in hospital and brought a young lady with him. First time I’ve ever seen him with a girl. I wonder what will become of his travel plans now?

As he approached their cottage he saw Lizzie walking towards him from the main road. She gave him a wave. She was still working full time for Mr Tannerson in spite of the mill’s not being in production, and he knew that Ellen was pleased to have her contribution towards the rent. Lizzie had told them that she was constantly taking notes regarding the plans for the new mill when Tannerson had meetings with other mill owners, who were proving very helpful with advice in spite of being competitors.

Harry held the gate open for her and in an extravagant gesture ushered her in before him. ‘After you, Mrs Robson,’ he said, and she graciously bent her head and replied, ‘You look very well today, Harry.’

‘I feel well,’ he told her, opening the front door for her. ‘I think I’m almost ready to go back to work, except there’s no work for me just yet, is there?’

‘I’ve brought a letter for you from Mr Tannerson. Perhaps that’ll tell you. I’ve posted others, too.’

Harry took the envelope from her and felt a flurry of tension. Would he still be wanted? He was the newest employee at the mill. Some of the men had been working there for years. True, he had been injured in the explosion, but that didn’t mean that Tannerson had to take him on again if he wasn’t up to it.

He didn’t read the letter immediately. Ellen had a meal ready and waiting, and as soon as Lizzie had washed her hands and changed out of her work clothes – she was still borrowing Ellen’s brown dress, and Ellen thought that she could probably say goodbye to it – they were sitting down to eat.