Daniel forced a lightness into his voice. ‘I won’t, thank you, Mrs Matthews. If I could speak with Molly?’

She was already at the door, elbowing her mother out of the way. ‘Daniel, I wondered when you’d call on me,’ she said, giggling. She stepped out, forcing Mrs Matthews back as she shut the door on her. ‘Goodbye, Mother.’

Her expression was alight with expectation and it took all Daniel’s determination to hold on to the barrier of strength that allowed him to hurt her so.

‘What happened to your face?’ she asked.

‘My father hit me.’

She blinked twice. ‘Where are we going?’

He had not thought this far. His usual choice would be the river, but he could not take Molly to the place he shared with Sarah. That was part of a different life.

‘The green?’

She fell into step beside him. ‘My father was pleased, although of course he doesn’t think that I should be the one to do the courting, he says it’s not fitting. But it is the tradition, isn’t it? I can’t help being chosen as May Queen, can I?’

Molly stopped and looked up at him, but Daniel barely glanced at her and kept walking, nodding a greeting to the parson as he passed. She ran a few steps to catch up, linking her arm through Daniel’s.

‘Hello, parson,’ she said. He lifted his hat and walked on.

‘Of course,’ Molly said, ‘no wonder the magistrate chose me, he obviously has a liking for a pretty girl. Lucky I was not alone, else it would be me taken into the woods.’ She shuddered, though her face was lit up. ‘At least Magistrate Wright shall not allow such things.’

Again she stopped, twisting an escaped curl of hair around her finger. They had reached the green and Daniel led the way to the far edge opposite the well, sitting on the grass. He felt the curious glances of a group of women fetching water. A glimpse of the life with Molly that he was about to walk away from; though she had little in the way of dowry, he would have been the envy of every young man in the village. Molly would have been his bridge to acceptance. She pulled her petticoat up and sat beside him.

‘Once everyone knows we’re courting, I shall never need to worry about old goats like Magistrate Thompson.’

She reached out and placed her hand under his, arm stretched awkwardly across them both, and glanced across the green to where a group of her friends stood.

‘Hello,’ Molly called. The girls, who were already watching, waved and giggled.

All this Daniel saw but did not allow himself to take in. He must do this without knowing the consequences. Now.

‘Molly.’

‘Yes, dearest,’ she said, blushing.

‘I don’t wish to cause you pain.’

A shadow passed over her face, but her smile stayed firm. ‘Then don’t.’