Harriet sighed and scanned the page. The Sheffield Choral Union was putting on a concert in a few days’ time. Or Albert might take this potential business partner to the Alhambra where there was music five nights a week.

‘The Theatre Royal has booked a troupe of comedians for three days hence. That sounds jolly,’ she said.

She looked up at the ceiling when a floorboard creaked above her head. Some heavy object was dropped and bounced across the room above in a series of diminishing thuds before coming to rest. A football, probably. She returned her attention to the newspaper.

‘Oh dear,’ she said. ‘Dreadful news from the courts. A gang of robbers left a seventy-year-old man for dead. The poor old soul was walking from Chesterfield. All he had on him was two half-crowns, a knife and a tobacco box. How awful. They even took his shoes.’

‘I don’t know what the world is coming to,’ said Albert. ‘It’s not safe to be abroad, eh, Sadie?’

‘No, sir.’

Here was an advertisement for Hartley’s teething powder, which reminded her of Louisa telling her about baby Betty’s rash. Betty had been cutting her teeth when the flood took her and her mother. That had been on the eve of the disaster, the very day that Silas arrived in town and found his way to Hilda Armitage’s house. He was thus already, though neither of them knew it at the time, connected to Harriet in a distant way. As if fate decreed it even before he was thrown into her orbit by the great wave. Harriet pursed her lips and turned the page, looking for a distraction. It always seemed to her that any thread she allowed her mind to follow had Silas at the end of it.

‘We should attend church this Sunday,’ said Albert, taking a bite of the sandwich Sadie laid before him. ‘Our marriage banns are being announced.’

Tradition dictated that the banns were to be read at three consecutive Sunday morning services. The attendance of the Simpson family at church had always been sporadic, to say the least, but Mr Boothby rented a pew and liked to appear in it with his young fiancée by his side.

‘Will our names be read out?’

‘Of course. Do not be shy, Harriet. In three weeks, all the eyes of the town will be on you as you walk down the aisle. The banns are a formality. There will be no objections to our union.’ He lifted his teacup into the air and Sadie hurried over to refill it.

Harriet wondered whether marrying outside one’s class would count as reason enough to deny a wedding from going ahead. She rubbed her brow. There her mind went again, veering off course to seek out Silas. She recalled his teasing grin, the way he narrowed his eyes at her as if he could read her innermost thoughts. Had he already found another girl to test his charm on, to kiss and send dizzy?