Harry shook his head. They wouldn’t, that was for sure, and he began to feel anxious over Ellen’s feelings when she saw where they were going to live. He’d given her little information about the house, and she hadn’t asked; it was as if she didn’t want to know. He’d gathered up a sack of sticks to make a fire when they got there, so that the room would look cosier.

After an hour they stopped to let the children run about and stretch their legs, and then they sat by the roadside and ate bread and cheese before they set off again.

It began to drizzle as they approached Hull and crossed the town through Market Place and then over the River Hull’s North Bridge; Harry hoped that the rent agent would be there so that they didn’t have to hang about waiting for him with the keys, and he thought too that if it had been a bright sunny day the area would have looked more cheerful, but the sky was grey and a thin dark cloud hung ominously over them as if it were about to open into a deluge.

Billy looked up; it was as if he had been reading Harry’s thoughts. ‘It’s nowt much,’ he muttered. ‘It’ll clear up later; onny a slight depression.’

Harry eased out a breath. It was that all right, and he hoped that it wouldn’t last.

Dark, soot-smeared bricks, a grimy wooden front door and dirty windows. Ellen gazed at the terraced house where Billy had pulled up the wagon at Harry’s instructions.

Wherever have you brought us to, Harry, was her first thought, but she didn’t speak it; she knew he hadn’t had any choice or he wouldn’t have brought them here. The street was dank and dreary, long and narrow with tall chimneys and what looked like a mill tower in the distance. A young boy in cut-down trousers leaned on a wall on the opposite side of the street and watched them with interest.

He crossed over and spoke to Billy. ‘Are you lot coming to live here?’ He looked at the two little girls and the child in Ellen’s arms. ‘Have you got any older bairns? Cos there’s nobody to play wi’ round here.’

Billy solemnly shook his head. ‘Sorry, mate, not me. I’m onny the driver.’

‘Ah!’ The boy wiped his nose on a jumper sleeve and moved away. ‘I can’t play wi’ lasses.’ He turned back and shouted, ‘There were foreigners living here afore. They wouldn’t play either. Not tag or owt.’

Harry took Thomas from Ellen and helped her down. ‘I’m sorry,’ he began, but she interrupted him and gave a small, though wavering, smile.

‘Hush. First thing I’m going to do is clean that window, inside and out.’