‘But it’s not natural for a woman to be in business.’ He could have said more but decided it was best for now to let her have her say.

‘Why not?’ Bridget demanded. ‘Joe didn’t care that I was a woman. He had enough faith in my ability to make me a partner and I mean to prove myself. I want Joe to reap the benefits of his judgement. I mean to move up in the world, Bob, and if I succeed, it can only help us all.’

‘What do you mean, move up in the world?’

Bridget was cagey. ‘I don’t want to say too much, Bob, in case I tempt fate and lose it all, but right now I’ve got a few irons in the fire. With luck, they’ll come good.’

‘I see.’ He was obviously disturbed. ‘All the same, I’ll not want you working once we’re wed. The man is the breadwinner, and that’s the way it should be. There’ll be no need for you to work. I make more than enough money for the three of us.’

‘It isn’t just to do with money, Bob,’ she explained. ‘It’s to do with me making something of myself.’ She looked at him steadily. ‘Would it mean you wouldn’t want us to be wed if I was earning?’

‘Good God, no!’ He was a good liar and he knew how to hide his anger when necessary. ‘Like I said, I don’t think much to it, but if it’s what you want, my lovely, then who am I to stand in your way? As long as we’re man and wife, that’s all that matters to me. You must do what you feel is right. If you want to build up a business, I’ll even help you do it if I can find the time – though I suspect you would want to do it all on your own, wouldn’t you?’ His smile was wooden as his anger nearly got the better of him.

She nodded. ‘Thanks, Bob. I’m glad you understand.’

‘All I want is for you to be happy.’

‘Bob? Will you do me a favour?’

‘I might.’ He winked at her, his mind still on the front bedroom.

‘No. I’m serious.’

‘Go on.’

‘Just now Ruthie asked after Billy, and she came up with an idea.’

‘Did she now?’

‘She said we should put notices up everywhere, like the circus ones. And she’s right. Everybody would see them and there might be a chance that someone would know about Fanny and Billy.’

The colour drained from his face. ‘Slim chance, I’d say.’ Taken aback by her plan, he grew frightened. After all, he was the one who had put Fanny Higgins behind bars; the boy too. So far news of Fanny and her son had not filtered through to Blackburn town, but it would, and once it did, he wanted to have a ring on Bridget’s finger. He wanted to have proved what a good husband he could be. He hadn’t yet thought up a good enough story as to why he hadn’t told her before about what happened that night.