‘Harold asked that of you?!’ How could he, and when he knows Father is at his lowest?

‘Yes, I was shocked, too. But I told him I would want to see Roford mill in profit, and with better working conditions for the weavers. As you well know, that business is in a bad way. To my mind, Harold should have stayed up here and got things sorted.’

Her father was shocked to hear how Harold had asked Mags to appoint a manager for Roford mill.

‘What the blazes for? Can’t he get the job done himself? Look, if he’s not going to allow you to work, then I will have to take the reins. I’m sorry, but I don’t see how Harold will give our works the attention that is needed – he has to prove himself first.’

This upset Mags, for she knew her father wasn’t well enough to bear the stress of the business. And yet this might be the answer. ‘If you could find a time when we are on our own each day, to keep me informed . . . I – I mean, Harold won’t like me being involved, even as a sort of silent partner, so he mustn’t know. All decisions will have to look as though they are yours, Daddy.’

His hand patted the back of hers. ‘Good girl; you will fare well, if you manage Harold that way. Your mother asked me to see that you didn’t “lose yourself” – as she put it. She didn’t, you know. She managed me well; let me keep face, as the man of the house, but I knew that she held the strings that worked me. I liked it that way, and now I feel lost. Very lost.’

‘Oh, Daddy, I know.’

They walked in silence for a time. It was Mags who broke it. ‘Have you thought about Christmas, Daddy? I mean we don’t have to do anything as we have always done it. Not this year. I’ll carry out Mother’s traditions of seeing that the children of the village all get a present, but we needn’t get the decorations down from the attic or make a big thing of it.’

‘I haven’t thought about it, my dear; but yes, I would like to be quiet and not make a fuss. Is Harold coming? He left so abruptly.’

‘He had urgent business, as I told you, but I have had a letter from him, and he is coming back up. Whether he will stay for Christmas, I’m not sure. He is grieving himself and may want to spend it where he can visit his parents’ grave.’

‘It’s been a bad year all round, and you, my darling, are bearing the brunt of it from all quarters.’

They held hands, each enclosed by their own grief. But Mags couldn’t dwell too long in that sad and empty part of her. She felt the burden weighing heavily on her shoulders at the thought of her father having to take a huge role in the running of the mill once more, but couldn’t see another solution. At least this way I can keep some control. But what about my promise of no more secrets? What with keeping Flors’s whereabouts from Harold, and the arrangement that Daddy and I have agreed upon, I’ve more than broken that promise, but what choice did I have?