‘Perhaps when you’ve got rid of the baby you could come back,’ he suggested. The thought of never seeing her again was painful. But she shook her head. How could she ever trust him or believe a word he said ever again?

‘I’ll tell Mrs Boswell that I have given you a few days off because your mother is ill or something,’ he said desperately.

‘Yes, sir.’ Amber bobbed her knee and walked away leaving Barnaby Greenwood to stare after her, his shoulders sagging as shame swept through him. He knew what he was doing to Amber was wrong but he was so confused and miserable that he had convinced himself it was right – or at least he had tried to.

It was ironic, he thought, that all he and his wife Louisa had ever wanted was a child of their own and now that he had the chance to be a father he had ordered the girl to get rid of it!

Amber knew that Mrs Boswell, the housekeeper, wouldn’t be at all pleased when she told her that the master had given her permission to be away from her post, but that was the least of Amber’s troubles for now. First, she would have to face her mother and she quaked at the thought.

‘So how did he take the news?’ Nancy was sitting up in her bed when Amber crept back into their room. In response, Amber opened her palm to reveal the gold sovereign lying there.

‘Lordy . . . has he give you the sack?’ Nancy asked.

Amber shook her head. ‘No . . . he gave me this an’ told me to get rid o’ the bairn,’ she answered in a wobbly voice.

Nancy gasped as her hand flew to her mouth. ‘But you ain’t goin’ to go along that road, surely?’ she said fearfully. ‘There’s so many things can go wrong.’

‘I know.’ Amber sank onto the end of her bed dejectedly. ‘He says I can come back once I’ve got rid of it but I don’t think I can; I ain’t brave enough.’

‘The lousy bastard! Didn’t I allus tell you this would end in tears?’ Nancy ranted. ‘What’ll you do now?’

Amber shrugged. ‘I ain’t give it much thought yet but I’ll leave first thing in t’mornin’ an’ go and see me mam, though Lord knows what she’ll say when I tell ’er. I won’t dare let on to me dad who the bairn’s father is, cos if he finds out he’ll be so angry I don’t know what he’d be capable of.’

Nancy gave a deep sigh as she reached out to stroke Amber’s arm sympathetically. ‘Well, all I can say is, rather you than me, lass!’

Chapter Two

Chapter Two