Effie didn’t respond immediately. It had been the excuse the local women had given to steer clear of her all day, their noses in the air as they passed by as though she was somehow lesser than them. ‘Aye. It’s dirty work pushing a loom all day, let me tell you.’ She’d spent two hours clearing and then cleaning the privy.

‘Loom? I thought you were working at the forestry?’

‘So did I.’

There was a pause as their eyes met briefly but she looked away again, not wanting to see his disappointment. They both knew her factory job with the women meant less money. ‘You’d best clean yourself before dinner. I canna eat with that stench. Scat. I’ll bring out the hot pan once it’s boiled.’

With an impatient huff, he turned away. She slipped out through the back door and pressed on the well lever, watching as water rushed into the tub, running rust-coloured for the first minute before it began to come clear. The copper was streaked green, with some upside-down beetles, a long-legged spider in the bottom, and a couple of fossilized fern leaves stuck to the sides. A large rhododendron served as a privacy screen of sorts, not that there was anyone around to see – or want to see – her naked.

She watched the tub fill slowly, remembering the baths that had punctuated her brief time with Sholto back home – the day she’d leapt for the boat off the cliff and half landed in the water, the next day when they’d had a water fight in the bay, two days after that when he’d given her another swimming lesson as an excuse to put his hands on her, to be with her. Every time she’d come back shivering. Wanting more.