Anna was thrilled with her new house. They had the whole of the ground floor and the yard at the back, though they had to share the privy with their upstairs neighbour, who had access from the back of the property via a wooden outside staircase. She had an oven in her kitchen, and a scullery with a wash boiler set into a corner with a grate for a fire beneath it for wash days. They had only a small patch of garden at the front, but she said she didn’t mind about that for she had lived all her life in a city and didn’t know about growing things.

Ellen had brought fresh bread and coffee, Harry had brought a flagon of cider and Anna had made delicious chicken soup with dumplings. Edyta and Karl dropped in too and said they could only stay for an hour as Karl had some work to finish for a customer. Edyta looked more relaxed than they’d seen her for a while, and said they were planning their wedding. Afterwards they would live in Karl’s present house until they found something more suitable.

When they had eaten and the children were playing board games, the conversation came round to the proposed new company. Harry said he thought he might walk to the mill on the coming Saturday and help to organize the bands of men who were bringing down the building. He was keen to get back to something like normality.

‘Are you fit for that, Harry?’ Lizzie asked. ‘I’m sure that Mr Tannerson would appreciate your help and would collect you to save you the walk. I’ll be going in too on Saturday morning, but he won’t expect you yet.’

‘I won’t go in once they start the demolition,’ he said. His voice was still husky from the smoke of the fire. ‘There’ll be a lot of dust then; you might not want to be there either.’

‘I won’t,’ she said. ‘Mr Tannerson said I can use his home office if I prefer. It’s in Jarratt Street, not far from Wincomlee, so I might do that.’

Her cheeks had a slight flush as she spoke, but she thought that only Ellen might notice.

Ellen, however, had other things on her mind. Hoping that bringing up the topic of the bakery might initiate practical ideas that she hadn’t thought of herself, she said, ‘Could I change the subject to one that I’ve been considering, which might interest Anna? Although, Anna, it might not be so convenient now that you’ve moved.’

She told them about Mr Foster and his shop and the cooking range in the back room and her idea of starting a bakery to try to earn a living until Harry was back working full time.