He’d been a mean, lecherous, horrible man. She nodded to the thought. Those mucky pictures . . . And he had been inside her, a man like that. But she couldn’t dwell on it, it weakened her and she couldn’t afford to be weak. She and Betsy had to leave here today. Her bags were already packed and there were just a few things of Betsy’s to add to them and then they could be gone. She’d make sure there was no trace of them for anyone to find first though. She was sure folk knew the miller had employed a housekeeper, the lad from the village for one, but who was to say when she had left?

She looked at the pile of coins on the table. She knew Arthur had no siblings and no close family of any kind. He had mentioned a second cousin in Australia once but had intimated that he was a bad lot and could well be dead for all he knew. There was no one to inherit the mill and house and his possessions, and likely once word got out that the miller was dead the contents of the house would disappear who knew where.

She swept the coins back into the two bags and stood up. She was going to take this money for her and Betsy – it would give them a security in the days ahead that she had never imagined having. She didn’t know what the future held – she could even be pregnant from his attack on her – but she did know one thing for sure. Money meant food and drink and a roof over their heads, and more importantly, it kept the spectre of the workhouse at bay. No one was going to help her except herself and this was a chance in a lifetime. And when her conscience troubled her, as she knew it would, she would look at Betsy, her precious daughter, and know she had done the best for her. Nothing else mattered but keeping Betsy safe and close to her, and if she had to answer for this act on Judgement Day so be it, but in the here and now she had no doubt about what she was doing. Men preyed on vulnerable women – look at Nathaniel and then the miller – but she could make this money work for her. She wouldn’t waste a penny. But for now she had to concentrate on putting as much distance between this place and themselves as they could before nightfall. Before she left she’d make sure the chickens had plenty of food to tide them over until someone found them, and old Bess, the horse, was all right out in the field close to the mill.