Esther looked down into the boy’s dark brown eyes and for a moment rested her hand on his black curly hair. He was so like Matthew that one day, as he grew older, he would surely have guessed just who his sire was, if Matthew had still been around. Now Matthew would not be returning. Would Danny ever know who his natural father was?

Quietly she said, ‘Thank you, Danny,’ then more briskly she added, ‘I’ve some scones in the oven. Would you like one with some fresh butter?’ She was rewarded by a replica of Matthew’s cheeky grin, and as she rose and went to take her baking from the range oven, she spared a moment’s thought for Beth.

How the sight of her son must twist at Beth’s heart every day of her life!

‘Tom – they’ve taken me ’osses.’

‘Eh, Esther, lass, I’m sorry to hear that.’ He shook his head. ‘You did well to hang on to them the last time they came. I didn’t,’ he added with feeling.

They were standing in Tom’s stack yard. ‘I’d help you if I could, lass, but I’ve none mesen, now. I have to borrow the squire’s. You’ll have to do the same.’

‘Aye, but I’ll be at the end of the line, won’t I?’ she added bitterly.

Tom faced her squarely. ‘No beating about the bush, lass. I dun’t reckon the squire holds anything against you, personal like.’

‘Not like the rest of you, ya mean?’

Tom’s huge shoulders lifted fractionally as he said truthfully, ‘You’re not perfect, Esther Hilton. You’ve made mistakes and takin’ up with that young feller whilst your husband was at war hasn’t gone down too well with the folks round here . . .’ He held up his hand as she opened her mouth to protest, speaking for her the words she had been about to utter. ‘Aye, I know, it’s no one else’s business. But folks around here, I’m afraid, will always make other people’s business their own. It’s the penalty you pay for living in a little community like this. Matthew was one of us, an’ you were a stranger here.’

Stiffly, she said, ‘I’m sorry if you think badly of me, Tom, but there’s – things you don’t know . . .’

Tom nodded. ‘Eeh lass, I’ve been around a long time. I don’t think badly of you at all. And maybe I understand a lot more than you think, but there’s some as don’t.’

‘Tom—’ she said, suddenly needing to know. ‘You never thought I fired your stack, did you?’

Tom pushed his cap back and scratched his head, but did not answer.