Her arms were round the old woman, and she bent over her, resting her cheek against the silky white hair. Esther’s hands loosened their grip upon the chair and came round Ella’s waist, clinging, beseeching. ‘Don’t – leave us – again – Ella. We – need you.’

‘Oh, Grannie, I love you so much. I won’t leave you again. I promise.’

They were sitting together in the deepening dusk, the only light coming from the glow of the coals in the range. Ella sat on the rug, her head resting against her grannie’s knee, the old hands stroking her hair.

‘There’s something I want to ask you, lass.’ Esther’s voice was strangely hesitant.

‘Mmm?’

‘That mark on ya face. What’ve ya done? Where – where’s it gone?’

Ella twisted her head and looked up at her, meeting her eyes, dark in the shadows.

‘It’s just make-up.’ She laughed. ‘It’s good, isn’t it? Covers it completely.’

Esther was biting her lower lip.

‘What is it, Grannie?’ Ella prompted gently.

‘I always felt so guilty about it.’

‘Guilty? Why? I don’t understand.’

‘It was my fault you got it.’

Ella shook her head, mystified. ‘How could it be?’

‘When Kate came to tell us she was pregnant I was so angry, I lashed out at her. After all I’d taught her. Never to give ’ersen to a man till she had a wedding band on her finger. Never to bring a bastard into the world . . .’

Understanding now fully what lay behind the old lady’s unbending attitude, knowing the heartache of her early years that had caused her to be so bitter, Ella squeezed her hand.

‘I hit her, Ella, right on her cheek and – and when you were born, you had that little birthmark . . .’ she swallowed, and Ella knew instinctively that Esther was not finding her confession easy, ‘. . . right where my fingers left their mark on Kate’s face.’

Ella knelt up and put her arms about her grandmother. ‘Oh, Grannie. That’s all a load of old wives’ tales. It was just coincidence. Nothing more.’

‘I ain’t so sure . . .’ the voice quavered, vulnerable at the telling of a long-buried guilt.

‘Well, I am,’ the young girl said confidently. ‘It’s all a lot of nonsense. You’re not to think of it any more.’

She kissed Esther’s cheek and found herself once more clasped in a fierce bear-hug.

The words were muffled against her hair, but she heard them. ‘Oh, Ella, I do love you. Really, I do. I always have.’