Over the next days, several things did indeed fall into place. Rose wasted no time in depositing most of the money in a bank in Front Street, not far from the inn, keeping a little for expenses. The young cashier who’d served her had immediately called for the manager when Rose had mentioned the sum she wished to place in the new account, and once ensconced in his office he had proved most helpful. She’d told him that her husband had met with an accident at work and the money was a payout from the company concerned, and he had enquired no further. He’d talked her through the procedure of opening the account, made sure she filled in the paperwork correctly and had given her a cheque book, after which he had ordered coffee for them both and a glass of lemonade for Betsy. All in all it had been a pleasant experience rather than the ordeal she’d prepared herself for, and she had left the premises reflecting what a difference money made to the way one was treated.

After leaving the bank she had gone directly to the shops and bought Betsy a new pair of shoes, a little smocked frock and matching cardigan, and some underwear. Betsy had been thrilled with the shoes, refusing to take them off and looking down at them so often on the way back to the inn that she had fallen over twice.

With nothing to do but take care of Betsy, Rose did a lot of thinking on her daily walks with the child and during the time in their room at the inn. To some extent she was back in the same position she’d been in when she had agreed to become housekeeper for the miller – albeit now with a considerable amount of money in the bank. It would still be difficult to find any sort of work with a child in tow, but neither did she want their nest egg to dwindle away, which would happen if she didn’t provide an income for them. But doing what? She had no training for anything besides cooking and cleaning and keeping house, but after Rowlands Gill mill she didn’t want to put herself in a similar position again, even if she could find a housekeeping job in Consett which was highly unlikely. From now on, she decided, wherever she and Betsy called home, she wanted to shut the door at night secure in the knowledge that it was just her and her daughter in the house. Until Nathaniel’s advances towards her she’d never thought much about the danger men represented to a woman on her own, but now after the rape it was on her mind most of the time. Her physical bruises were fading, but she knew something fundamental had changed within her. She wanted as little to do with the male sex as possible.