Time? For two pins Ruby could have shaken her. Daniel had nothing but time as far as she could make out. For ages Ellie had parried the question of what Daniel did for a living, before admitting diffidently one night that he did ‘this and that’ and had a finger in various pies ‘here and there’. He always seemed to have money in his pocket and clearly wasn’t short of a bob or two, but Ruby had realized Ellie really didn’t know what her beau did or where the money came from and, moreover, didn’t care.

‘Ellie, don’t do this. Please.’

‘It’s too late. I’ve said I would.’

‘Well, unsay it.’

‘I can’t. He’d – he’d be mad.’

‘If he loves you—’

‘Don’t keep saying that,’ Ellie interrupted a trifle wildly.

Undeterred, Ruby continued, ‘If he loves you he’ll understand what a big step this is and wait.’ This wasn’t the first time she had detected an element of fear when Ellie had talked about Daniel, and now she took the bull by the horns, saying softly, ‘Are you frightened of him, Ellie? Is that it? You can’t let him bully you.’ As Ellie stared at her Ruby knew she’d hit the nail on the head. Her voice even softer, she said gently, ‘You are, aren’t you? You’re scared. Ellie, this is all wrong.’

‘You don’t understand. I’ve let him—’ Ellie shook her head helplessly. ‘I can’t lose him now. No one else would want me.’

‘Of course they would. Did he say that? Well, it’s a lie. You’re young, you’ve got your whole life ahead of you, and we can move away from here if that’s what you want, go somewhere else and start again. We’ve done it once, we can do it again.’

For a moment Ellie wavered. And then she bent down and picked up the big cloth bag at her feet holding all her belongings. ‘He’s waiting outside,’ she said dully. ‘I’ve got to go.’

‘No, wait.’

As Ellie opened the door Ruby followed her onto the landing and then down the stairs into the hall. Daniel was standing on the pavement when Ellie opened the front door, and as Ruby caught at her friend’s arm, saying again, ‘Wait,’ he straightened, squaring his shoulders and narrowing his eyes.

‘Well, look who it is. Little Miss Holier-than-thou,’ he drawled softly, moving towards Ellie who was still standing on the step, and taking the cloth bag from her but with his eyes on Ruby. ‘Bin saying your two penn’orth then? Aye, course you have.’

Ruby stared at him and said stiffly, ‘If by that you mean I’m not in favour of Ellie ruining her reputation by living with you then you’re right.’