‘Come on, everyone, you know the drill,’ said Alice as she began to pour the tea. ‘Put plenty of sugar in your cup so that the leaves stick to the side.’

‘I’ll put a drop of whiskey in too,’ said Kathleen.

‘Sorry we’re late,’ said Biddy who had arrived last with Mary in her wake. ‘If you can’t find Peggy, where is big Paddy?’

‘Probably in the Anchor. I’m hoping that if we all read the leaves, we will be able to find a clue in the cups.’

Everyone fell quiet and an air of seriousness descended upon the kitchen as they waited for the help they had always turned to during a crisis, or simply to get them through hard times. Kathleen’s reading of the tea leaves had guided each woman in managing even the most difficult problems. An unpaid bill, a sick child, an unwanted pregnancy – all were a way of life in the four streets and Kathleen’s kitchen was open for readings every Friday morning. No one knocked at any other time because they knew they would be turned away.

‘They would be filling my hands with the sixpences every day of the week instead of the kids’ bellies with food,’ Kathleen said to Alice when anyone knocked on the door, begging her to give them a reading because a mammy back home was ill, or a wage-earning brother was up before a magistrate in Dublin.

‘That was a strange turn Peggy took down at the rent office – did Dr Cole say he could do anything?’ asked Biddy as Alice filled her cup.

Kathleen shook her head. ‘He said no bloody chance of helping with anything, other than trying to get Paddy into work and that her nerves were shot to pieces. He wanted…’ Kathleen dropped her voice, ‘to do an internal, down there.’ It rose again. ‘Wanted to check her fibroids to see if they were any worse but she refused. She was desperate to stop Frank the Skank from moving in next door, that’s what’s upset her, but Dr Cole said there was no chance of that, either.’

Kathleen, Maura and Alice exchanged a knowing look. They would not reveal the contents of the letter, would not bring further shame down on Peggy’s head. Between them, they would rescue her. They would pay the rent and retrieve the shoes from the pawnshop.

The air was tense as Maura spoke. ‘I’ve never known Peggy to go anywhere alone; you all know what she’s like, she’d need a bit of company to help her. Has anyone been keeping an eye on her, has she kept up with the bills?’

Alice slipped the knitted tea cosy over the teapot. ‘We’ve been feeding the kids, Maura. Hardly a day goes by when one of us doesn’t do something. Maggie Trott only really bakes for Peggy’s kids.’