There had been two other women apart from Amber who he had dallied with during his marriage, although neither of them had meant a thing to him. The women had both been married to much older men and had used him as much as he had used them. And then a picture of Amber flashed in front of his eyes and again the guilt weighed heavy on him. She and Louisa were as different as chalk from cheese in every way. Louisa had been breathtakingly beautiful and pampered with her every wish catered for, whereas Amber, although attractive, was a hard-working girl with rough hands and no pretty clothes to speak of. So what, he wondered, had ever attracted him to her? She had been nervous when he had first made advances to her, probably because she had been fearful of what might happen to her family should she deny him. But then she had given herself to him heart and soul and he had made promises that he couldn’t keep – and look what the outcome had been. He had ruined the girl’s life and he couldn’t put that right either. His shoulders suddenly sagged and without a word he left the room.

‘That was a little harsh, my love,’ Mrs Ruffin scolded Louisa as she helped her to take a sip of water.

‘Why was it?’ Louisa answered sharply. ‘I was only telling the truth!’ And with that she turned her back on the woman who loved her as her own child and went into a sulk.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Four

‘Any luck, lass?’ Sadie Grimshaw asked as Amber entered the kitchen.

The noise in the room assailed Amber and she smiled wearily. Nancy’s younger siblings were rolling about on the peg rug in front of the fire making enough racket to waken the dead and the smell of boiled cabbage and stale bodies hung heavy in the air.

Amber shook her head wearily. She had been out since early that morning job-hunting, just as she had every day during the week she had been staying there, but again she’d had no luck, even though she’d walked for miles and ventured much further afield. Even the farms that were dotted across the moors had nothing to offer and now she was seriously disheartened. It seemed much longer than a week since she’d said a teary goodbye to her mother and waved her off on the coach bound for Scarborough, and although Sadie had gone out of her way to make her feel welcome, Amber often longed for the peace and quiet of the cottage that had been the only home she had ever known.

As two of the younger children started to fight, Sadie waved a wooden spoon at them. ‘If you bloody pair don’t be’ave I’ll bang yer bloody ’eads together. Now keep the noise down!’