‘What’s wrong with you?’ Holly questioned when Ivy came in a short time later. ‘You look like you’ve lost a shilling and found a penny?’

Ivy sighed as she threw her bag onto the table. ‘Jeremy met me out of work. His mother has been ill so that’s where he’s been. And now when he gets home his editor has sent him straight off to Brighton on another story,’ she said gloomily. But she didn’t mention that it would be her wages paying for his train fare. She had an idea that Holly wouldn’t approve.

‘Oh, that’s a shame.’ Holly peeped at her out of the corner of her eye. ‘But never mind, no doubt he’ll be back in the blink of an eye. But now come and have your dinner. I’ve done us a nice lamb chop each.’

‘I wish we could have a bit more time off to enjoy the city,’ Ivy said ruefully one Sunday in September. The trouble was they were always so very busy they barely had any free time and when they did Ivy was always keen to see Jeremy, if he wasn’t off reporting somewhere that was. She slipped her foot out of her shoe then and rubbed gingerly at the blister on the back of her heel.

‘Looks like it’s time you treated yourself to a new pair of shoes,’ Holly remarked and Ivy quickly lowered her eyes.

‘It’s just findin’ the time to go shoppin’,’ she excused but Holly didn’t entirely believe her.

She’d noticed that Ivy still always seemed to be short of money, which was strange because the wages she earned working in the suffragette office was a little more than she’d earned in the match factory. Most months now Ivy seemed to struggle to even pay a fraction of her share of the household bills and now Holly was certain that Jeremy was taking her money. But why? If he was an aspiring journalist surely he should have been earning a good wage? She wanted to broach the subject with Ivy, but she was well aware that it was none of her business and, mindful of her mother’s advice, she knew that Ivy wouldn’t like her asking questions, so she wisely kept her concerns to herself. No doubt Ivy would confide in her eventually, but it was worrying all the same.

October brought an unexpected visit from Emma and Holly was thrilled to see her. It was just before lunch on a Sunday when she arrived and after giving her a rapturous welcome and telling her at least ten times how much she had missed her, Holly instantly flew into a panic.

‘Oh, but why didn’t you let me know you were coming? I didn’t bother getting anything special in for dinner as Ivy is off on some protest march somewhere with the suffragettes. I just hope she doesn’t go and get herself arrested again,’ she told her mother worriedly. ‘Did you know the last lot that were arrested went on hunger strike when the police locked them up for throwing bricks through shop windows and now they’re being force-fed in prison? Ivy was with them at the time but she managed to get away – this time,’ she ended ruefully.