When she got back to the nursery it was to find that Becky had just brought their lunch up on a tray, so after settling Charlotte to play with her gaily painted wooden bricks on the hearthrug, she settled down to enjoy her soup and the crusty bread fresh from the oven.

Becky was a little chatterbox and as she rattled on Amber glanced over at her and smiled. She had perfected the art of letting half the chatter go in one ear and out of the other. The girl had changed almost beyond recognition from the skinny waif she had been when she first arrived. Her once gaunt face was now rounded and her hair shone and Amber’s one regret was that once she took Charlotte away, poor Becky would be out of a job. But then something she said made Amber’s ears prick up.

‘What was that you just said?’

Becky swallowed a mouthful of soup and swiped the back of her hand across her mouth. ‘I said me mam went fer a job at Barstow’s farm last week. It’s about two miles inland, but after meetin’ the farmer an’ his wife she said she wouldn’t ’ave taken it even if they’d offered her double. They never keep staff fer long apparently cos of how they treat ’em. Mam said the farmer’s wife ’as got a tongue on her that’s sharp enough to cut glass an’ he’s a dirty old sod apparently who can’t keep ’is hands to ’imself, if yer get me meanin’? They’ve got two son’s an’ all an’ they ain’t much better from what I’ve ’eard. It would ’ave been too much of a trek fer ’er all that way there an’ back every day anyroad. They’re lookin’ fer someone to live in. I feel sorry fer whoever they get. They reckon they’re right slave drivers.’

Amber said nothing but her mind was working overtime as she wondered if it would be worth trying for the position herself. She had no doubt she could give the farmer’s wife as good as she got, and if the old man or his sons tried it on with her, she’d soon put them in their place. And it would be a roof over hers and Charlotte’s heads so surely it would be worth paying them a visit.