I had never left Musselburgh before. Some of the fishwives took a cart to Edinburgh each day, up to Fishmarket Close, to sell their wares. But Ma said the two-hour journey there and back was a needless bother, even though you could get better prices. And the customers there were innkeepers and paid cooks and ladies’ maids and the like, who would sniff and tap and inspect everything and look down their noses at us and ask for the juiciest mussels and the most succulent oysters, and so on. It was more of a bother than it was worth for Ma and Da, who also had their side-line in looking after smuggled tea.

But even though I’d never left the Honest Toun, folk came and went all the time, and the hub of all things in and out was the courtyard at the Mussel Inn. So that was where I went, carrying a weighty creel on my back. When I arrived, the kirk clock had only struck seven, but already there were carts being loaded with goods and drivers, and passengers eager to be on their way. I had decided the best way to go about my business was not to talk to anyone I recognized, for that would raise significant questions and they might not even let me go, without permission from my da. And if that seems strange for a married woman, my da was not a man you would cross. So I pulled my bonnet over my face as far as it would go and kept my head down, looking only at the hay-strewn mud below my feet and occasionally glancing up.

I soon spied a small fellow readying a coach and I made my way over to him.

‘Good morning, sir,’ I began, and he barely even stopped what he was doing, continuing to make sure everything was roped into place.

‘If you’re looking for a hitch, I’m off in half an hour and it’s London I’m headed to, by way of Carlisle as I’ve mail to drop there. Three shillings up front.’

Drivers like him must see runaways all the time.

‘I never rush, especially not in this weather, and I’m doing overnight stops at the inns at Lauder and Kelso, and wherever else I might need to stop after that for the sake of the horses,’ he said. ‘And a lass like you will need to look after yourself too, for I’m only a driver, not your guardian. I’m almost full today. Two gentlemen passengers and a load of salted herring at the back, not to mention the mail. They are the priority, not daft lassies. Are you in a rush to get anywhere?’

I shook my head.