By now Annette had realised that she was indeed pregnant but naively had not been prepared for the inevitable reaction of the priest, and she stared at him with frightened eyes.

‘And who is the father of this abomination?’ he demanded, leaning towards her, his face so close that she could feel his breath on her skin. ‘Which man have you been creeping out to meet?’

‘None. No one,’ stammered Annette, shrinking away from him, her back against the dresser.

‘Liar!’ Father Thomas’s face grew red with anger. ‘Liar!’ He was determined that she should admit she had been with some man, but although her fear was stark in her eyes, she remained silent and his anger boiled over. How dare she defy him – him, a man of the cloth? ‘Well, it’s out of the house with you! I’ll keep no fallen women here.’

Annette stared at him and suddenly she realised that, though she was afraid of him, at this moment she wasn’t afraid of the hellfire he threatened. ‘It’s your child,’ she said, ‘and you know it. If you throw me out everyone will know it.’

In that moment he saw the depths of her hatred in her eyes, a hatred so intense that he took an involuntary step backwards. It was gone as quickly as it had come, but he had seen it and felt a sudden jolt of fear.

‘Don’t you dare to threaten me,’ he blustered. ‘If you try to spread malicious rumours about me, who do you think they’ll believe? Me, the man of God, or you… the whore?’ His lip curled as he asked the question, but expecting no answer, he went on, ‘The only place for you is back in St Luke’s, where women like you belong. That’s where your bastard will be born.’ Annette still made no reply and he said, ‘Get up to your room! I shall go and see Reverend Mother in the morning.’

‘I will never leave my child at St Luke’s,’ Annette said, far more bravely than she felt. ‘I would rather kill it.’

‘What? And add murder to your list of sins?’ mocked the priest, quashing his fear and reasserting his authority. ‘The sisters will take you in until the child is born and then you will return to the streets and it will be theirs. It will learn its place in the world… just as you should have done. Now get out of my sight. You disgust me.’

I may disgust you, thought Annette miserably as she heard him coming up the stairs yet again later that night, but it doesn’t keep you away from me.

She was right. Despite his feigned disgust he couldn’t resist the pleasure he would get from invading her body, from possessing her just once more. The feeling of power surged through him as he thrust and thrust again, his excitement building until he exploded in waves of ecstasy. But as the ecstasy ebbed away and the disgust flooded back through him, he never considered whether it was for her or for himself. Spent, he rolled away, pushing her from him, and looking down in revulsion at her swollen body, he thought, Tomorrow she will be gone and my temptation will be over.