Rosie’s chest swelled three inches with pride. ‘He’s right,’ she said grandly. ‘That’s what we are – “enterprising”.’

The last port of call was Mrs Panter from Duckworth Street. ‘Two barmcakes and a small Hovis,’ she told Molly. ‘And I don’t want a burnt one neither.’ She was adamant. ‘Me teeth get stuck in a hard crust an’ I can’t get ’em out.’

The two women were hard put not to chuckle at this.

‘I’ll tell you what,’ Rosie said, as she and Molly made their way to Ainsworth Street, ‘she’s an ugly old sod as it is. I wouldn’t like to see her without her teeth, that’s for sure!’

Despite her fondness for the old woman, Molly giggled all the way to the shops.

Come three o’clock and it was time to fetch the children from school. ‘Eddie’s slept right through,’ Molly said. ‘I hope he’s all right.’

Rosie felt his face. ‘He’s fine,’ she said. ‘Cool as a cucumber, so he is. I’ll make my way back with him now. By the time you get home with the children, I’ll have him fed and changed and ready to fight the world.’

Molly thanked her. ‘We’ve had a good day,’ she declared, taking out the bag of money. ‘By my reckoning, we’ve earned six and eightpence.’

‘But that’s three and fourpence each, and it’s only the first day!’

Sitting on the bench at the tram stop, Molly spilled the coins into Rosie’s palm. Counting them out she told her, ‘There! You’ll be able to buy yourself a packet of snuff on the way home.’

Rosie was horrified. ‘Hush your mouth!’ She glanced anxiously up and down the street. ‘Sure, you and me are the only ones who know I take snuff.’

‘Singleton’s is the best,’ a voice intervened. ‘I’ve tried ’em all, but I allus come back to Singleton’s.’

A red-faced woman popped her head round the corner of the shelter. ‘Mark my words, once you’ve had a pinch o’ Singleton’s, you’ll not want no other.’ To prove it, she opened a small silver tin, and taking a pinch of brown powder between finger and thumb, she stuffed it first up her right nostril then up her left, each of them stained brown from years of taking the stuff.

‘By! That’s grand!’ she exclaimed, giving a little cough and a sigh. Then she went off down the street like a young ’un, leaving Molly and Rosie open-mouthed.

‘Did ye see the cut of her nose?’ Rosie wanted to know.

‘All brown and gooey, you mean?’ Molly was trying desperately not to laugh out loud. ‘Yes, I did. Why?’

‘Why?’ Rosie stared at the girl as if she’d gone mad. ‘Because it’s put me right off, that’s why!’

‘What? D’you reckon your nose might end up like that?’ After a fine day’s work, Molly felt mischievous.

‘No, it bloody won’t!’ Rosie retorted. ‘’Cos I’ll not give it a chance.’ With that she dipped into her pocket and, taking out her little snuff-tin, she marched to the waste-paper bin and disposed of it. ‘That’s the end o’ that!’ she declared, though she did take a peep to see where it had landed.