‘But you know.’

Bridget held her close. ‘Not because she told me, sweetheart.’

‘How then?’

‘Because I love her, and when you love somebody, you just know these things.’

‘D’you miss her?’

‘Yes, I do,’ she answered softly. Not a day passed when she didn’t think about Fanny and Billy. But it was up to Fanny to get word to her, because there were no means by which she could find out where they were, or even whether they were all right.

‘I miss Billy too.’

‘And I’m sure he misses you, sweetheart.’

When Joe arrived at two thirty, he beamed with pleasure at the handsome takings. ‘You’re a magnet, lass,’ he chuckled. ‘The customers love to chat with you and, more importantly, they love to part with their money.’ He counted the coins and slipped them into a drawbag. ‘By! You make more in a day than I used to make in a week.’

The afternoon was drawing to a close when Harry turned up with an offer that had Joe beaming even more widely. ‘I’ve a society wedding coming up,’ he told Joe, ‘and I urgently need another three reams of silk for the waistcoats and such. Can you help me out?’

Joe slapped him on the back. ‘I know just the cargo. It’s sitting in Liverpool docks at this very minute and, would you believe, the master is a friend of mine.’ The two of them sat down, talking colour and quality, and arranging delivery.

While they talked, Bridget got on with serving, though several times she turned to find Harry quietly studying her. He would smile and she would blush, and from her place at the back of the stall, Ruthie would giggle.

When the men’s business was concluded and it was time for Harry to leave, Bridget dared not bring herself to look at him although she knew he was looking at her, and her heart beat faster because of it.

When Harry had gone a short way, Ruthie ran after him. ‘I like you, mister,’ she declared solemnly.

Deeply moved, Harry smiled. ‘I like you too,’ he replied.

‘And you like my mammy, don’t you?’

Harry laughed out loud. ‘You don’t miss much, do you?’

Her face fell. ‘I miss Billy.’

‘Oh? And who might Billy be?’

‘He’s Fanny’s boy.’

‘Ah!’ Now he understood. ‘You mean Fanny Higgins, your mammy’s best friend.’

‘They’ve gone away and we don’t know where they are.’

‘Don’t you worry. In my experience, folks always make their way back home sooner or later.’

Encouraged, Ruthie launched into a long and detailed account of how Fanny and Billy had gone away, and how they promised always to meet down by the canal when it was her birthday.

‘You can come too, if you like,’ she invited excitedly. ‘I’m sure Mammy wouldn’t mind.’

As they chatted, Harry’s sister Alice swept towards them. Unobserved by the two, she was stopped in her tracks by the sight of Ruthie.

‘My God! If I had ever wondered whether the brat was his, I need wonder no more.’ They had the same long limbs and easy smiles, and the same handsome profile. ‘That girl is his, and nobody could ever tell me otherwise.’ But she wouldn’t make it known, for if she did, he might feel more responsibility for his child and her mother than he did for his own mother. If she was to continue to live the free and flirtatious life she had manipulated for herself, Alice knew she would do well to keep her mouth shut.