Nancy nodded. ‘Aye, a boy an’ a girl, an’ it sounds like one o’ them ain’t very well, though I don’t know which one. The missus is so poorly they’ve had to arrange a doctor to travel back in the coach with her.’

‘Well at least the master got his son in the end.’ Amber couldn’t keep the bitterness from her voice and Nancy gave her a sympathetic smile as she bent to retrieve her basket.

‘Right, I’d best be off else Mrs Boswell will be on me tail like a blood’ound,’ she said. ‘But do consider comin’ back, please. It ain’t the same at Greenacres wi’out you. I’ve missed you somethin’ rotten!’

‘I’ve missed you too and I’ll think about it,’ Amber said, although she had no intention of doing any such thing. She watched Nancy walk away before turning about and going back to work.

‘The skipper reckons we’ve only got another two or three days work left ’ere,’ Bridget informed her that evening as she flipped the last of the iridescent herrings she was gipping into a barrel and began to cover it with coarse salt. ‘Have yer given any more thought to movin’ on wi’ us, lassie?’

‘I appreciate the offer but I think I’m going to try my hand at something else now,’ Amber told her apologetically. ‘I’m really grateful that you let me work with you but I doubt I shall ever get as fast as you and Isla.’

Soon after she set off for home and as she turned into Church Street she saw Bertie Preston swaggering towards her in his Sunday best.

‘Phew, lass.’ He made a big show of pressing his nostrils together. ‘Yer reek to high ’eaven.’

‘It’s because I’ve been working hard. You should try it sometime,’ she responded sarcastically.

‘I don’t ’ave to kill meself to earn a bob or two,’ he said smugly. ‘I live off me wits an’ like I said, if yer’d let me put a ring on yer finger, you’d never want fer owt.’

Amber sighed and moved on. She was just too tired to even try and make conversation with him and just wanted to get into the warm.

When she entered the cottage, she was grateful to see the tin bath full of steaming water in front of the fire.

Her mother smiled at her. ‘I thought I’d get it ready for you afore the men come in,’ she told her kindly. ‘Come on, lass, strip off now an’ while you’re havin’ a soak, I’ll bring you a nice hot cup o’ tea. How does that sound, eh?’