‘So I take it we’ve got a deal then? Like I said, I’ll do a couple of weeks free and then you can pop the rent into the shop after that on a Friday evening. How does that sound?’ He handed her the keys as he spoke. ‘Any problems, you know where I am.’ He bent over and ruffled Betsy’s curls. ‘You help your mammy get your home sorted, eh, hinny?’ and with that he shook Rose’s hand and was gone.

She stood in the kitchen for some moments more, slightly stunned by how quickly everything had happened. They had somewhere to live, or they would have when she had cleaned and scrubbed and bought everything they needed. She surprised Betsy by bending down and whisking the child into her arms whereupon she danced about the kitchen for a minute or two, Betsy squealing and loving every second. And for those brief moments she was happy.

Over the next days a transformation took place at 7 Park Street. Once she had cleaned every inch of the house, spending hours on the range alone, she tackled the two bedrooms, distempering the walls and ceiling in a fresh cream colour. Next she did the landing, stairs and hall, again in cream, which took several coats as everything had been a muddy brown colour. The front room and kitchen received a pretty yellow paint, the ceilings again cream, and after she had blackleaded the range and the fireplaces in the bedrooms and front room, she really felt she was getting somewhere. The privy was an unpleasant job, but by the time she’d finished it was clean, sweet-smelling and devoid of the army of spiders who had lived there.

Amy proved to be an enormous help. Every morning she took care of Betsy and after the first day Rose ceased to worry about leaving the child with her, knowing she was well cared for and happy. At lunchtime Amy and Betsy arrived at the house with sandwiches and a bottle of lemonade, and then Amy went back to the inn to work and Betsy stayed with her mother for the afternoons.

Some evenings Amy turned up at the house and then took Betsy back to the inn with her and put her to bed, sitting reading in the room until Rose returned when it was dark. Other times Rose left it as late as she could before she returned to let Betsy go to sleep. It was a full ten days before Rose felt the house was ready to receive furniture and other items, and she and Amy spent a morning at Jimmy Crawford’s second-hand shop which turned out to be like an Aladdin’s cave. Amy had confirmed Mr Hartley’s recommendation, saying Craw-ford’s was a step up from other second-hand shops, and although he charged a little more Rose could see she was getting good value for money.