Swinging round, Harry regarded her with pity. ‘You still don’t understand, do you? If you open your mouth and let it be known what happened here tonight, then the scandal that will follow most certainly will be your fault.’

His words infuriated her. ‘The two of you should be shown up for what you are,’ she snapped, ‘and the Mulligan woman should be shunned by every decent person in Blackburn. It’s only what you deserve, so why should I care?’ With that she turned and swept across the room. ‘In fact, I think Father should be told how you’ve disgraced the family. I shall tell him first, and then I shall talk to Mother. You’ve always been her favourite. Goodness knows what she’ll have to say about all this. Her precious Harry, bedding another man’s wife, and the poor fellow seeking you out on your own doorstep. And the pair of you fighting in the street like a pair of dogs.’

She had the door half open, unaware that Silas was in the passage outside. What he heard struck him to the heart. He hurried back to his work.

Harry strode across the room and quietly closed the door. ‘Remember what you said before, Alice,’ he urged. ‘The whole family would suffer if the truth ever got out. It would be the end of your ladies’ afternoons because none of your so-called friends would set foot over the threshold again.’

‘I knew it!’ As always, her thoughts were only for herself. ‘I’m ruined.’

‘That’s not all.’ Harry was concerned not so much for himself as for his family, and for Bridget. Trying to keep the desperation out of his voice, he outlined the future in harsh terms. ‘Our parents would be shunned, and Father would lose the reputation he’s built up over many hard years; decent folk would stop bringing work to him, and money would get scarcer and scarcer until you might be forced to find a husband who could support you.’

Alice’s eyes widened with horror.

Encouraged, Harry went on, ‘Fay would lose her job like you said and she would have to come home again – you and her, arguing the whole time like you used to. I would never be able to support all of you, not if I worked from morning to night, seven days a week. We could lose the house.’

She stared at him, eyes glittering, hating him with every part of her soul. ‘You deserve to burn in hell for what you’ve done to us.’

Taking her by the shoulders, he said, ‘Listen to me, Alice. It’s all up to you. Tom Mulligan will keep his mouth shut because he obviously loves Bridget. He wouldn’t want the world knowing how his wife had slept with another man. He’d be too shamed by it. Bridget won’t talk of it, and neither will I. Don’t you see, Alice, if you keep quiet, no one will ever know, and life can go on as before.’