‘I’d best be off, my lovely,’ Bob greeted her. ‘Are you sure you wouldn’t rather I came round tonight? Like I said, I can always make the farm visit another day.’

‘No. Not tonight.’ She was firm about it. ‘Where’s Ruthie?’

‘She bumped herself. Aggie took care of her.’ Bridget swung away but he took hold of her. ‘No need to get alarmed. She’s all right.’

Aggie assured her of the same. ‘The lass is fine,’ she said. ‘I heard her cry out and thought she might be better helping me out here till you got back.’

Ruthie ran into Bridget’s arms. ‘You’re not going on any more errands, are you, Mammy?’

Bridget assured her she was not.

‘Well, you ain’t missed nothing, lass,’ Aggie said. ‘It’s been quiet as the churchyard round ’ere. Folks must have gone off for a bite to eat but give it another hour and they’ll be out in force.’

And she was right.

For the rest of the afternoon, Bridget was run off her feet. She took a healthy pile of money and, just before she shut shop, Joe turned up on his horse and cart. ‘I’m feeling better,’ he said, ‘but I’ll have to ask you to load up, lass, ’cause I’m not ready yet to take any weight.’

Bridget was soon ready for off. ‘By the way,’ she said, ‘Harry Little dropped by when I was out on an errand. He told Ruthie he needed to talk to you about work.’

‘Fine. I dare say he’ll catch up with me.’

While Joe and Ruthie climbed aboard, Bridget thanked Aggie again. ‘You’ve been a pal,’ she said. ‘But I won’t be leaving Ruthie on her own again. She seems to have got herself all upset. Thanks again, Aggie. Take care now.’

‘Er, d’yer mind if I say summat, lass?’

‘Course not. What’s on your mind?’

‘Are you really intending to marry that feller?’

Bridget was shocked. ‘Well, yes, I am.’

‘Only, if you don’t mind me saying, the lass seems to have taken agin him.’

‘What makes you say that, Aggie?’

Aggie tapped her nose. ‘Just an old woman’s instinct. But I dare say there’s nothing to it. Kids are funny creatures. They take agin all kinds o’ folk, for all kinds o’ reasons.’

On the way home, Ruthie slept in the back of the cart. Bridget was preoccupied by what Aggie had said. She decided to sound out Joe. ‘Aggie says Ruthie’s taken against Bob. Do you think there could be any truth in that, Joe?’

‘Aggie might be a good soul, but sometimes she talks out of her arse. You’ve only got to see him with Ruthie to know he thinks the world o’ the lass.’

Bridget said no more about it, but when they reached home and she undressed Ruthie for her wash, she was startled to see the small, dark bruises forming on her daughter’s arms. ‘Good God, Ruthie. How did you do this?’

There was a moment’s hesitation before she answered. ‘It was when I got stuck under the stall and I had to squeeze through.’ She didn’t dare say how Bob had got hold of her arms and squeezed them until they hurt. She could never tell her mammy. Not after what Bob had said to her.