‘I take it that by “Mags” you mean Margaret? Mrs Roford.’

‘Aye, I’m sorry, I allus call her Mags, as me and her are good mates. Oh, I knaw as it’s unlikely, but that’s the way of it. Anyroad, you have to help her, Doctor. Only you can. If you can’t, she’ll never get out of that asylum, and her dad will die and that swine will take everything.’

‘I really don’t think you should be so disrespectful, Betsy. I never heard you speak like this when I visited the mill. I know you are upset, but you have to understand that Margaret is ill. Her breakdown is real. Yes, what happened tipped her over the edge, but you have to take some responsibility for that. As I heard it, you had come on to Mr Roford before, and had been forbidden to attend him in his room. It doesn’t look good that you went to him that evening.’

To her despair, Betsy realized that the doctor was like the rest of them. He wasn’t about to bite the hand that fed him and take the side of one of the working class. She turned away from him and started to go inside.

‘Betsy, I’m not saying that I don’t believe you.’

A spark of hope warmed a small bit of the coldness inside her.

‘Look, I will visit Mrs Roford. I have a right to, as her doctor, and I’ll make my own mind up as to how she really is. If there is a spark of truth in what you’ve told me, then I will not only help her, but will help you as well. But I have to have what you say proven to me. Can you understand that?’

Oh aye, she could understand that. Weren’t it the way of all men? None of them believed that a woman didn’t want what a man had to offer, when he offered it.

‘I’m just so relieved to hear that you’re going to see Mags. Please give her my love and tell her not to give up hope. But please don’t give her hope, if you haven’t any to give. Oh, I knaw as, being a woman, she won’t have the power she used to have, now that she’s married; but she’s still a person, and at this moment all she has is those of us who care about her. Trouble is, the majority of us can do nowt for her. You can, though, so please don’t let her down.’ Feeling she might have said too much, Betsy changed the subject. ‘Now, I thank you for coming to me ma. She has a bit put by in her pot on the mantel shelf. I don’t think it’s much, but you’re welcome to it.’

The doctor looked taken aback and Betsy knew she’d overstepped the mark, but she didn’t care.

Clearing his throat, the doctor said, ‘I am on your side, Betsy, and I don’t need paying. I told you before about our scheme. I just happened to be the doctor on call. And I’m glad I was. You’ve unsettled me, and I think someone needed to, where Mrs Roford is concerned. Now don’t you worry – I’ll do all I can for her.’