From upstairs she could hear Lottie and her dad arguing. ‘Out with it, lass! What else did he say?’ Frank meant to worm every last truth from her. But her mam was right; Lottie wasn’t afraid. Not when she thought there might be something in it for her.

‘Don’t be frightened, Mam.’ Laying Amy down, Molly took her coat from the door and laid it over her. ‘I’ll away and get help.’

‘Hold me!’ More terrified than she had ever been in her life, Amy clung to her. ‘Don’t leave me.’

There was a sudden commotion from upstairs, then a yell and a thud close by. Scrambling to her feet, Molly was horrified to find her father lying face down at the foot of the stairs, and Lottie standing on the last step staring down with big, scared eyes. ‘He wouldn’t let me go,’ she whimpered. ‘I pushed him off… he was hurting me.’

A swift examination revealed that Frank Tattersall wasn’t dead, nor was he injured. ‘He’s just overcome by the drink if you ask me,’ Molly said disgustedly. ‘Now then, Lottie.’ She forced her voice to remain calm so as not to panic the girl. ‘I want you to run and fetch Maggie as quick as you can.’ From behind them, Amy’s cries grew louder. ‘Tell her she’s to come straight away because the bairn’s on the way and there’s summat wrong. Run as fast as you can now.’

With that she tugged her sister from the step and propelled her towards the front door and out into the cold, dark night. ‘Tell her what I said. The bairn’s on the way, an’ Mam says it doesn’t feel right!’ She called the same instructions time and again, before returning to the parlour.

‘It’s all right, Mam,’ she murmured, stroking Amy’s head. ‘Maggie’s on her way.’

By the time Lottie returned bringing Maggie with her, Amy was in a terrible state.

‘She’s losing so much blood, Maggie.’ Molly was frantic. ‘I don’t know what to do.’ Cross-legged on the floor, she held her mother, who was nearly unconscious, in her arms.

‘Let’s have a look, shall we?’ Still panting from the short run up the street, the old dear dropped to her knees. ‘What ’ave yer done to yerself, eh?’ she said kindly. ‘Been lifting them childer, I expect. You’ll not be told, will yer?’ Carefully she laid Amy back and began to raise her skirt, at the same time advising Molly, ‘This is no place for young ’uns.’

‘Lottie, you’d best go back to your bedroom,’ Molly instructed. ‘You’re to stay there till I fetch you, all right?’

As usual, her sister felt cheated. ‘It’s not fair.’

‘Do as you’re told!’ Molly meant business and the girl knew it.

With a contemptuous glance at her father, who had come to and dragged himself to a chair where he sat quiet as a mouse, she scurried away, going no further than the top of the stairs, where all the children were huddled, frightened by events and not knowing where to turn. ‘Get back in your beds,’ Lottie ordered. ‘And don’t give me no lip or you’ll feel the back of my hand.’