They were almost nose to nose now and it would have been difficult to know which of them was angrier but thankfully Nancy defused the situation by grabbing Amber’s arm and yanking her aside saying, ‘Clear off, Bertie. Amber’s told yer she ain’t interested, so go an’ find another girl who is!’

‘Oh, I will, don’t you worry!’ He bared his teeth at her and without another word turned and stormed away.

‘Well, I reckon he got the message this time,’ Nancy said in a small voice as Amber sagged back against the wall. ‘An’ I also reckon it’s safe to say that yer just made yerself an enemy there, lass. Bertie Preston is a bad ’un to cross so just watch yer back, eh?’ Taking Amber’s elbow she hurried her on to her mother’s house.

‘Good grief,’ Mrs Grimshaw exclaimed when the girls spilled through the kitchen door a few moments later. ‘Why, yer look like a pair of drowned rats . . . an’ Amber, yer as white as a sheet. What’s wrong, lass?’

‘We just had a run-in wi’ Bertie Preston, Mam,’ Nancy informed her as she ushered Amber towards the fire. ‘An’ he weren’t too nice to her!’

‘Hm, he’s a bad ’un he is,’ Mrs Grimshaw said. ‘An’ you’d do well to give ’im a wide berth. But what were it about?’

‘He said . . . well, he were rude an’ reckoned that somethin’ were goin’ on between Amber and Mr Greenwood,’ Nancy answered in a lowered voice so that her siblings, who were scattered about the room, wouldn’t hear her.

Mrs Grimshaw nodded. ‘There’s a few hereabouts sayin’ the same, if truth be told,’ the woman answered – there was no point in lying. ‘Did yer turn him down or something?’

When Amber nodded, Mrs Grimshaw sighed. ‘Us as know yer know it ain’t true,’ she said soothingly. ‘But I suppose yer can understand why they’re thinkin’ it, can’t yer? I mean, that were a good job to land up at the house an’ he has been showin’ yer preferential treatment. All you can do, lass, is take it in yer stride an’ in no time at all they’ll be talkin’ about some other poor devil.’

Amber supposed she was right and for the first time she wondered if she shouldn’t have taken her uncle up on his offer of going to live with him. But then she thought of Charlotte and she knew that she could never leave her now.

The afternoon passed all too quickly and before they knew it it was time to set off back to the house.

‘Our Nancy won’t be gettin’ another afternoon off fer three weeks now but you’re welcome to come every week,’ Mrs Grimshaw told Amber as the girls lifted their still damp outer clothes from the clotheshorse where they had been steaming in front of the fire.