Isabelle turned round in her seat and opened the rolltop desk that her mother had sat at when she was alive; she couldn’t help but think of how her mother must have felt when she discovered that Joseph Dawson, her husband and Isabelle’s father, had another woman in his life. It had been the making of Charlotte Atkinson in the long run. She herself would just have to ensure that James had not endangered her family and all their futures.

‘Aye, Isabelle, I’ve heard your news.’ Danny looked across at his sister and felt for her.

Archie looked up from lighting his pipe and also looked at Isabelle. ‘I’d never have thought James was capable of that. I always thought he’d eyes for nobody but you. Folk are awful gossips, and sometimes they get it wrong. It’s a sad do that the lass died, like, but happen best that she’s out of the picture, as it is.’ Archie noticed how crestfallen Isabelle appeared. Usually she was as hard as nails, but today she looked vulnerable.

‘Father, I meant that we’d heard about Madge dying and that James broke his leg. Not the other rubbish that folk are gossiping and saying.’ Danny quickly corrected his father and gave a pleading look for help to Harriet, as she placed a cup of tea down beside her sister-in-law.

‘You don’t have to pussyfoot around me. I know the stories and I can tell you now that they are probably true, although at the moment James denies it all. But I can tell when he’s lying, and he has not been acting himself these last few months, so I knew something was wrong, but didn’t know what.’ Isabelle pulled off her crocheted gloves and took a sip of her tea. ‘I just hope the children don’t hear. People can be so cruel, and I have made a few enemies of late. It’s not easy following in Mother’s footsteps.’

‘Oh, Isabelle, I’m so sorry. You must be hurting. I would really like to say what I think to James and give him a piece of my mind. I knew I didn’t like that Madge as soon as I saw her at Atkinson’s. There was just something about her, as if she had one-up over everybody else. I shouldn’t talk ill of the dead, but that is how I felt, as if she was superior to us.’ Harriet put her hand on Isabelle’s arm and squeezed it lovingly.

‘I’ve been blind, but life goes on. We will have to try and make the best of it. I think, looking back, that Bert Bannister tried to tell me a few weeks ago, but I didn’t take the hint. I wish he’d come straight out with it. At least then Madge would still be alive.’ Isabelle dropped her head and stared into her teacup.