Jenny sat beside Agnes and took her cold hands in her own. ‘We’ll stay with you.’

‘Thanks,’ the distraught woman whispered. ‘You go to bed, Jimmy.’

The boy shook his head and settled in a chair where he could keep an eye on his dad.

Glad came back with the tea, put the tray on the sideboard and glanced at her daughter. ‘Ivy, you go home now. Me and Jen will stay with Agnes and Jimmy.’

‘All right, Mum, but you call if you need me.’

As Ivy left, Jenny also settled down. It was going to be a long night, but if Ted did live until morning, she would get him a doctor.

At four o’clock in the morning Ted Roper gave a gasp and died. Jenny wanted to shout in fury at the sheer hopelessness and waste of a life. Ted had been only thirty-eight, but had aged beyond his years with the constant struggle to feed and house his family. The last two years had been the worst, and Jenny was certain that the strain of waiting for hours in a dole queue and chasing around from morning to night looking for any kind of work had been the cause of his early death.

It was seven in the morning before Jenny returned home. Glad had taken charge of the practical details, while Jenny had stayed to comfort Agnes and Jimmy.

Sitting at the kitchen table, she covered her face with her hands. What an awful night that had been. And how was Agnes going to manage without Ted’s unemployment money? It was only a little more than a pound a week, and with rent for these small houses at six shillings a week, it had been a struggle to manage anyway. But without even that coming in, Agnes and her son would be in desperate need. Glad was going to the welfare as soon as they opened to see if she could get anything for them, but these things took time. The welfare system was a laborious affair, and many people were not getting the help they needed simply because they didn’t understand how to get it.

Because Ma was over seventy, she got what was called the Old Age Pension. Jenny didn’t know how much it was, as Glad had always looked after that for Ma, but it was enough to pay the rent and leave a few shillings over for food. But since Jenny had lost her job, by Wednesday each week she was scratching around to get as much as she could as cheaply as possible. She hated to think that Ma had to support her, and she ate very little to make sure the elderly woman had enough to eat.

The food Mrs Peters had given her yesterday had been very welcome. She had shared it with Glad and her family. Now she was going to have to see what she could do for Agnes and Jimmy.