‘Why William?’ he asked.

‘I’m not sure,’ she mused. ‘She said something about ’other William, and I wondered if she’d heard my mother mention an earlier William – not our Billy, but one of our forebears who once lived in Hull before he went to live in Holderness.’

He smiled. ‘Come on,’ he said, easing her off his knee. ‘She’s a child, full of dreams and imagination. It’s onny coincidence, nowt more.’ He took her hand. ‘Let’s go to bed.’

He murmured to her that night that he knew she was unhappy about Mary’s still being in Holderness and that he missed her too, and had asked Roland Tannerson if next weekend he might borrow a horse and wagon to fetch her home.

‘Which means that our little Mary will be back with us well before Christmas.’ He gently kissed her. ‘How’s that for an early Christmas present?’

‘The best ever,’ she said, her voice tearful. ‘I do love you, Harry. More than I can ever say.’

‘Would you love me even more if I suggested that you and ’bairns came wi’ me, wrapped up warm in blankets and straw?’ he teased. ‘Could you manage that, do you think?’

‘Oh, yes!’ She squeezed him tight. ‘And we can see both our families.’ She sat up in bed, leaning on her elbow, and began planning. ‘I’ll bring ’little hen’s box inside and leave her seed and scraps so that she’s not hungry while we’re away.’

Harry raised his eyebrows in the darkness. ‘This is ’little hen you’re planning on us having for Christmas dinner?’ he asked.

‘Yes,’ she said seriously. ‘We don’t want her dying of cold whilst we’re away.’

He nodded. ‘Spoken like a true countrywoman.’

Laughing, he repeated this story to Mr Tannerson at midday on Saturday as he put the horse he was to borrow into the traces. ‘So she’s fattening ’fowl up ready to make into soup on Christmas Day.’

Tannerson laughed too, and then said, ‘Soup? Not a roast?’

‘We’ve lived off soup since we first came to Hull,’ Harry explained. ‘My wife works miracles on that small fire; we’ve no proper oven, you see, but after Christmas I’ll use my Saturday afternoons to try and find somewhere better to live.’ He patted the mare, and then checked her hooves for the journey.

‘You didn’t know that I always give my workers a bird or a joint of beef for Christmas?’ Tannerson said.

Harry looked up. ‘No sir, I didn’t, but it will be very much appreciated.’ He grinned. ‘We can joint it and put it in a big pan for stew and if we shift Christmas Day three days along it might be ready to eat!’

‘Are you joking?’ Tannerson asked.