Ann mopped her brow of sweat and took a deep breath. She picked up the bundle of jute from the batching and softening area and lugged it over to the carding machine. The stench of whale oil hit her nostrils and she tried to hold the bale away from her but it was hopeless. Again, she would have oily patches all over her dress. She dumped the bundle by the carding machine and looked over to Alf for her instructions.

‘Take this lot over to the drawing frames, Annie. Then go and see the spinning girls over yon. It’s time you learned more about winding the yarn onto the bobbins.’

She looked up at him, her blue eyes imploring.

‘And don’t give me that look, Annie. You’re thirteen, it’s time you were doing a proper job, not just helping your Ma. We’ve got to get Alyth mill producing as much as Dundee. Get a move on.’

She walked towards the spinning frames and looked up. Peering over the railings on the gallery was a young man, gazing down at her. She tilted her head up a little and smiled a coy smile. She knew he had been watching her and he had even spoken to her outside the mill the day before. She had tried to speak proper, like Ma told her. Keep in with Robert Craig, she had said. Even though he’s a peelie wallie sprauchle, he’s the boss’s son. Never know what might happen. And so Ann stood up tall and nodded in acknowledgement of his gaze.

‘Get on with your work, lass!’ came a cry from behind her. The stench of the oil began to stifle her; she thought she might fall down if she didn’t get some air. She ran to the door, ignoring the manager’s shouts. At the foot of the stairs, the boss’s son met her and extended his arms. She put up her hands to try to stop him embracing her because of the stench, but he pulled her into his arms and then the dust and stour of the mill was choking her, and then they were in the water together and the sea was suffocating her and…

Ann woke with a start and opened her eyes wide. What a horrid dream. She sat up and reached in the early morning light for her water, shaking her hair from side to side to get rid of all vestiges of the nightmare.

Did the dream mean her husband was still alive? If only she had had the dream before visiting Blind Mattie, she might have explained what it meant.