Mary was about to say that she hadn’t at all. That Cindy hadn’t taken a penny off her, but instead she kept quiet and said, ‘I can’t, Mam. I’ll have to go and fetch Biddy from the Seaman’s Stop. Malcolm has a full house tonight from one of the ships and she’s down there, helping.’

Deirdre wasn’t listening, she was already away and out of the door. Shelagh, in her wake, popped her head back around the door and said, ‘Mary, your hair looks lovely, so it does!’ and as quick as a flash, she was gone.

An hour later, they had almost finished preparing the house for Maura’s return and were slightly disappointed not to have been summoned, especially as Harry and little Paddy had arrived to see who was in the house and would obviously carry the news back to Maura that they were already there and using their own initiative. It had taken them less than an hour to do what would have taken a tired Maura much longer to complete alone. During the turning of the mattresses, the making of the beds and the lighting of the fires in both bedrooms, there had been a prolonged exchange.

‘It seems to me, Shelagh, that if you’ve got a bit of money, you don’t want to go and spend it on an empty house, do you? It’s obvious they always intended to come back, isn’t it?’

Shelagh was confused. ‘I suppose so, because look at this place. Kathleen has been coming in once a week since they left and giving it the once-over. In fact, she had the nets out last week and there’s nothing for us to do other than make the beds and light the fires. So Kathleen must have known, mustn’t she? Or she probably read it in the tea leaves – that’s the thing about Kathleen, she knows what’s coming before the rest of us do. Nothing’s a surprise to her. She can see into the future, ’tis a great gift she has.’

‘Ma,’ the back door opened and one of Shelagh’s children ran in shouting up the stairs, ‘you’ve got to go to Kathleen’s now! She’s banging on with the mop and it’s three knocks.’

Shelagh picked her baby up from the floor and straightened her back with some effort. ‘We’re doing the beds. Tell her no one needed to tell us what to do, it’s all done and dusted and when is Maura coming down?’

‘Ma, she knows you’re here, Nellie told her, Kathleen says you’ve got to come, right now!’