He nodded. ‘Yes, she did, she can’t even remember it – she was semi-conscious by the time he arrived.’

‘Poor soul, let’s hope she picks up soon,’ the woman said sympathetically. She took the now slumbering child from his arms, crooning to her as she gently laid her in her cot, forgetting that Barnaby was even there.

Once downstairs he ran his hand distractedly through his hair as he thought of the forthcoming visit he would pay to Amber that evening. He hoped she would accept the job he had offered. The Temples were long-term friends of his and he knew that she would be well looked after with them, even if the position was only temporary. It would certainly beat gutting herrings!

*

It was dark that evening when Barnaby reached Arguments Yard and when he tapped on the door of Amber’s home, she almost instantly answered it and stepped outside to speak to him, explaining, ‘Me dad an’ me brothers are in an’ I don’t want ’em askin’ too many questions. Shall we walk, else we’ll be settin’ the tongues waggin’.’

She pulled the thick woollen shawl draped across her shoulders more tightly about her and he noticed that she must have bathed since she got home from her last day with the herring girls as her hair was still damp.

When he said nothing, she seemed to think she owed him some sort of explanation and went on, ‘If me dad saw you here, he’d start to ask too many questions. For instance, why are you botherin’ to do this for me? An’ I think we both know what he’d do if he knew the answer to that, don’t we? He’d kill you stone dead as soon as look at you!’

Barnaby felt the heat build in his cheeks. He wasn’t used to being spoken to this way by people he employed and yet he didn’t retaliate because he knew he deserved it.

‘But let’s face it, surely anything has got to be better than gutting herrings,’ he said quietly.

Amber sniggered bitterly. ‘Oh aye? So you think it were fun when I worked in the laundry at the house, washin’ all your dirties, do you?’ She would never have dared speak to him in such a way before this but now she felt she owed him nothing and she certainly had nothing to lose. But then her voice softened a little as she asked tentatively, ‘Have you heard how me baby is?’