‘Matt wouldn’t have left you at the mercy of those thugs.’ Mrs Stannard spoke for the first time. ‘You mustn’t blame yourself. We’ve brought up the boys to oppose wrongdoing of any kind.’

Jenny gazed at each face in turn and saw only kindness towards her. They should hate her.

‘Do you know why those men attacked you?’ Luke had now found his voice.

‘One of them told me that Greaves had paid them to catch me.’

‘Greaves again!’ John was obviously furious. ‘What is that bloody man playing at?’

‘I don’t know but I’m certainly going to find out!’ Jenny was on her feet now with fists clenched. ‘As soon as we know how Matthew is, I’m going round there.’

‘You mustn’t do that!’ John and Luke spoke together.

‘The boys are right,’ Mrs Stannard said sternly. ‘For some strange reason Greaves will do anything to get hold of you. If you go to his house, you might not leave it again.’

That was sensible, of course, but she wanted answers from that obnoxious man. For some inexplicable reason, Greaves was going to dangerous lengths to catch her. The question ‘why?’ thundered through her mind. ‘I can get a couple of the men from my street to come with me.’ Her gaze was pleading. ‘They’re tough and used to trouble, and they won’t let anything happen to me.’

Mr Stannard sighed, shaking his head. ‘You mustn’t go anywhere near him.’

A doctor strode towards them and everyone leapt to their feet.

‘I’m Dr Sterling, Mr and Mrs Stannard. We’ve managed to stop the bleeding and no vital organs were damaged, but your son is very weak. We’ve had him transferred to a private room, where he’ll have round the clock nursing.’

‘Is he going to be all right?’ Matthew’s father asked gruffly.

The doctor smiled. ‘With plenty of rest he will make a full recovery.’

The sighs of relief all round were audible, and Jenny felt tears gather in her eyes. She sent a silent prayer of gratitude upwards.

‘We’d like to see him.’ Mr Stannard looked as if a weight had been lifted from him as he straightened up.

‘Of course.’ The doctor cast Jenny a glance. ‘Family only, of course.’

The disappointment was crushing, because Jenny knew that unless she could actually see Matthew it would be hard to believe he was going to be all right. There had been so much blood … Of course she knew why the doctor had given her such a strange look. This scruffy dishevelled girl could not be one of the family. She bowed her head mournfully and stepped back. The doctor had said he was going to recover, and she would just have to cling to that.