‘Yes, I realize that,’ he said. ‘Maybe when you’re run off your feet by demand, then we could think of it, eh? I’ll get the chimney swept anyway, and we’ll go from there as soon as you’ve found somebody to help with the children.’

Harry had been contrite and apologetic whilst at the Bosco’s and that night, when Lizzie had gone up to bed, he murmured, ‘I feel I’ve let you down, Ellen. I swore to protect you and I feel I’ve failed.’

‘How have you failed, Harry?’ She put her arms round him. ‘Nothing was your fault.’ She realized that he still hadn’t got over the shock of the accident, was still feeling insecure and probably doubtful of getting truly well again. ‘But now you have this chance of creating a better life for us all. There’s an opportunity of making ’kind of livelihood we never would have dreamed of.’

‘I know,’ he said. ‘But it hasn’t sunk in. The accident knocked me back, Ellen. I keep wondering if there was anything I could have done to prevent it.’

‘If you’re thinking that, Harry,’ she murmured, ‘how must Mr Tannerson be feeling?’

He was feeling very low, Lizzie knew. Although she had known him for such a short time, she felt she was as well acquainted with him as anyone, through spending most of their working days together. She hadn’t known him before the accident, of course, but she had seen occasional glimpses of his former personality when he forgot momentarily about the disaster that had fallen not only on him, but on the men who had worked diligently and conscientiously for the company for many years; the company that had fallen into his lap because of his marriage to the daughter of the original Tannerson.

He had shown respect for her organizational abilities and original thinking, but she had noticed recently that he sometimes looked at her in a different way, not just as a secretary or note-taker but as if he were interested in other things about her; asking questions about her marriage to Albert and how long ago he had died. She had told him on their first meeting that she had been recently widowed, but now he was asking more specifically. But why?

She thought he would be easy prey for a man hunter because he was vulnerable; his confidence had been shattered by the realization that he had let things slide, that he had become overwhelmed because he had no one to whom he could turn for advice and assistance, as he had once turned to his wife, a strong woman by all accounts.