Rosie took her bag and led her to the armchair. ‘Sit yourself down, child,’ she ordered firmly. ‘You look all in.’

‘Where are they?’ Molly’s first thought was for the children.

‘Aw now, don’t you worry your head about them,’ Rosie answered with a grin. ‘They’re all fed and watered and won’t give you a halfpence worth o’ trouble. Eddie’s asleep in his pram in the back yard, Bertha’s upstairs out to the world, and Milly’s in the front parlour drawing pictures to her heart’s content.’

‘Is Lottie home yet?’

‘Home and out again.’ Rosie snorted with disgust. ‘If you ask me, your sister hasn’t been to work at all!’

Groaning, Molly admitted, ‘She’s beginning to be real trouble. I just don’t know how to deal with her any more.’ Lottie had always been a bit of a heartache, but ever since their mam had been away, she seemed hell-bent on making life difficult.

Rosie agreed. ‘Aye well, she’s a law unto herself is that one.’

Molly’s eyes roved round the room. ‘And where’s our Georgie?’ Although she would never admit it, Georgie was her favourite. With his infectious sense of humour and willingness to help wherever he could, the lad was a tonic in these dark days.

Hesitating momentarily, Rosie said, ‘Lottie took him to the fairground.’

‘Why?’ Letting one of the children tag along was so unlike Lottie. It made Molly suspicious.

‘Because he wouldn’t let her go without him, that’s why. “I want to ride the horses,” he said. She tried her heaven’s best to shake him off, but he was having none of it.’

Practical as ever, Molly objected, ‘But he hasn’t got any money.’

‘I gave him a bob to spend – though judging by the money I caught her counting, Lottie had enough for both of them.’

‘Hmh! Not from working for it, I’ll be bound.’

Rosie agreed. ‘But there’s no use you worrying. Have a talk with her when she gets back home if you’ve a mind.’ Her voice sharpened with anger. ‘And while you’re at it, ask her why she sent the lad home on his own, in tears.’ Shaking her fist as she spoke, she went on, ‘I never would have let him go with her if I thought she’d abandon him like that!’

Taking off her jacket, Molly hung it on the doornail. ‘Where is he now?’

‘In the front parlour. I managed to get some food down him, but he wouldn’t talk to me. “I want our Molly,” he said, and since then he’s been in the parlour, listening to the wireless.’

‘Thanks, Rosie. I’ll see what I can find out.’

Going along the passage to the front parlour, she opened the door softly, and there was Georgie fast asleep on the rug, the wireless full on and his face still grubby with tears. ‘Hello, love,’ she said. She knelt beside him. ‘Georgie, it’s me.’

Opening his eyes, it took a minute for his senses to focus and then he was in her arms, sobbing about how Lottie ‘went off with a man, and told me to find my own way home’.