‘Will Ma be all right, miss?’

‘She just needs rest and good food, and I’ll do my best to see that she gets both. It’s very late, so I can’t do anything now, but I promise I’ll be back in the morning.’ Acting on impulse, she leaned over and dropped a kiss on Alfie’s matted hair. She looked up as Linnet came downstairs carrying a pile of blood-stained towels. ‘I’m going home. Are you coming with me?’

Linnet nodded. ‘Yes, but what about this washing?’

‘We’ll take it home with us.’

‘Hattie will complain.’

‘She’ll grumble even more when I raid the larder for food for these poor children, but somebody has to help them, and it doesn’t look as if he’s going to be much help.’ Daisy jerked her head in Joe’s direction as he lurched into the room and slumped down on his chair by the embers of the fire. Daisy turned to Alfie, who was staring nervously at his father. ‘If your dad lays a finger on you I’ll …’ she hesitated, eyeing Joe warily as he raised his shaggy head to glare at her.

‘You’ll do what?’ he demanded angrily. ‘Interfering bitch.’

Daisy thought quickly. ‘I’ll tell Squire Tattersall and we’ll see what he has to say.’

Joe’s expression changed subtly and he responded with a grunt.

‘Would you really tell the squire?’ Linnet asked as they left the cottage and headed for home.

‘No, of course not, although it would serve Joe right if I did, but it had the desired effect. Most people in Little Creek seem to be scared of Squire Tattersall.’

‘Except Dr Neville and Jay.’

‘Yes,’ Daisy said thoughtfully. ‘Except those two.’

After a few hours’ sleep, Daisy was up and dressed, and went downstairs to the kitchen to find Linnet and Hattie having an argument about the Greens’ washing.

‘Once we start that sort of thing we’ll have half the village thinking they can bring their dirty clothes here for us to see to,’ Hattie said crossly.

Daisy sent Linnet a warning look. Hattie could be very stubborn and needed to be handled carefully. ‘The poor woman only gave birth last night. She needs our help.’

‘Yes, and that wastrel of a husband was dead drunk,’ Linnet added. ‘He’s a real toper, Mrs Cribb.’

‘And I agree with you in general, Hattie,’ Daisy said earnestly. ‘But surely we can make an exception this time.’

Hattie sighed and picked up a saucepan. ‘I suppose it won’t hurt, just this once. But you’ll have to light the fire under the copper, Linnet, and see to the bedding. I’ll make some porridge for the little ones, but he’s not to have a mouthful.’

Linnet picked up the soiled sheets and hurried to the wash house while Daisy raided the larder for supplies.

‘And you must have some breakfast, too, Daisy,’ Hattie said firmly. ‘Heaven knows what your aunt and uncle will say when they know you were out half the night delivering a baby. It’s not the sort of thing an unmarried young lady like yourself should see.’ She added a generous helping of sugar to the mixture. ‘Poor little mites, having a drunken father. Men like that deserve to be tossed into prison and the key thrown away.’