Upstairs, there was a murmuring of voices and a rush of closing doors and hurried footsteps on the stairs, and Mr. Bell and Mrs. Bell appeared with Marion behind them in the passage door, still in their nightclothes.

Mr. Bell asked, “What has happened?”

Nanse by this time had recovered herself, closed the kitchen door again and bolted it securely, and had moved to view the window where the boy had entered. “Thieves, sir. Two men and a lad, that I saw. They sent the lad in through the window to open the door—ye can see where they forced it—but Lily was here, and she frightened him off.”

“Lily?” Mr. Bell seemed to take note of her for the first time, standing numbly where she’d stood throughout the ordeal. He crouched close in front of her, and in a gentle voice asked, “Did he hurt you?”

“He lied.” It was all she could think of to say. She was not sure what had made the boy tell his friends that there were men talking in the next room, but with that lie he had saved her and everyone in this house from being victims of housebreaking, possibly worse.

Mr. Bell told her, patiently, “All thieves do lie, my dear. Don’t let it worry you.”

Lily was shaking again, and he felt it.

He said, “I’m afraid that the child has been frightened by this, and it may not be healthy for Lily to sleep any more in the kitchen. We ought to prepare her a new place to sleep.”

“She can sleep with me,” Marion said. “There is room in my chamber.” She looked to her mother and added, “If Lily can still do her work, as you say, there’s no harm.”

With a soft smile, her mother agreed, “You are right.”

And so it was decided.

* * *

Jean shifted baby James high on her hip as she chose two more apples to add to the basket that Lily was carrying. “Well, I am happier knowing you’re sleeping upstairs with the family, but I still do feel I should bring ye away from that place. Are they good to ye?”

“Aye, they are very good. You need not worry.”

“I worry,” said Jean, in a tone that implied doing anything else was unreasonable. “We scarcely see ye anymore, and when we do, ye look so sad and tired.”

“I’m not sad.” Lily reasoned it would be no sin to stray from the truth this one time, if it helped to set Jean’s mind at ease. “And not so tired today.” She showed a cheerful face to prove it, taking Bessie’s hand more firmly in her own as they moved on to the next stall within the green market. “Will not ye have some plums? They are your favorite.”

“Not this time.” Jean moved along, bought half a pound of nuts instead, and with a single onion added, said to Lily, “That will do us nicely for the week.”