Will did not come the next week, or the week after. In all the time she had lived at Fleethaven Point, Esther had not known Will Benson to miss his regular visits, except during the snowy weather. Now he had missed two weeks running. Esther felt concerned for him. Perhaps he had caught this dreadful ’flu from his wife and was too ill to work. Another week went past but no one at the Point knew anything about Will. She was also distressed by his absence because they had parted on heated words. Surely he wouldn’t stay away deliberately just because of that? Or was it because he didn’t want to face her further questions?

Then Tom Willoughby came home from market with the news.

‘His wife’s died, Esther. Never recovered from the ’flu, so they say. And Will, he was took bad, though I hear as how he’s better now. But with the funeral an’ all, he just ain’t got back on his rounds yet.’

‘Oh, poor Will.’ Esther bit her lip, holding back further comment. Her feelings for Will Benson were her own secret. Gently, Esther told Kate the reason for Will’s prolonged absence and the child listened solemnly to the news. With equal gentleness Esther tried to get the news across to Matthew though she wasn’t too sure whether he understood. She was unsure too whether word of another death, when he had lived for so long with so much killing and death around him, would make him even worse. There was no outward sign, however, that Matthew even understood. He sat in his chair by the fire, his eyes staring, unseeingly she thought, into the glowing coals. His mind, if it functioned at all, seemed miles away from Fleethaven Point.

Another week had passed when at last she heard the trundling of cart wheels coming down the lane and the carrier’s whistle as he rounded the last bend. Esther ran to the gate to meet him. Slowly Will climbed down and she held out her hands to him. ‘Oh, Will, I’m so sorry.’

He seemed to have aged several years in the few weeks since she had seen him. He stooped a little more and his hair showed fewer red glints amongst the white.

‘Aye, lass, thank’ee. But – but it’s not all that’s happened.’

‘I know you’ve been ill, too, Will. Are you feeling better now?’

He shrugged and sighed heavily. ‘I’m better, aye, but I get tired, very tired.’ His eyes met hers. ‘It’s yar aunt, Esther. She caught the ’flu nursing the wife and me.’

‘Aunt Hannah?’ Esther’s voice was incredulous. She had never known her aunt to have a day’s illness. Even giving birth to each one of her large brood had been over and done with in a matter of days.