Bridget flinched. ‘I’m not going in there. It might collapse.’

‘Stuff and nonsense,’ said Fanny. She climbed back into the seat and, with surprising skill, edged the ensemble away from the footpath. That done, she took the bairns one at a time from Bridget. When they were settled comfortably, one at the top of the crib and one at the bottom, she helped Bridget up. ‘Inside,’ she ordered, lifting the crib containing both babies out of the way as though it weighed nothing at all.

The next hour was an experience Bridget would never forget.

Seated on a bench, drinking cool sarsaparilla, she looked about her, and was amazed. The inside of the wagon was like a little house, with pretty curtains and a table, and there was even a bunk high up in the front. In the centre of the room was a cast-iron stove, and at the back a run of cupboards. Above them, a wooden rack displayed plates and such. But it was also dirty and shockingly neglected, and a kind of musty smell pervaded it.

‘Whatever made you buy it?’ Bridget asked. ‘And where did you get the money? I thought you said Bill had cut your allowance?’

‘Bill did cut my allowance,’ Fanny admitted, ‘but his wife had other ideas.’

‘Oh?’

‘She came to see me. She said as how Bill and her were closer now than they’d been in a long time, and I was a threat to all that. She offered me a deal to stay away from him.’

‘What kind of a deal?’

‘In return for a sum of money, I was never to get in touch with Bill again, and if he was to come to my house, I was to send him on his way without mercy.’ Creased with laughter, Fanny shook her head in disbelief. ‘Poor cow! You’ll never believe what story the old bugger told her. He said we’d had a little fling, and now he couldn’t get rid of me. He wanted nothing at all to do with me, and he were worried sick about it all. One night, he told her, one stupid mistake, that’s all, he said, and now I were driving him insane going on my knees for him to come and live with me.’

‘What? And she believed all that?’

‘Not only believed it, but came and asked me to leave him be. And if I agreed, she’d make it worth my while,’ Fanny’s eyes lit up, ‘to the tune of four guineas.’

‘By! That’s a bloody fortune!’

‘I had to sign papers and such to say I would stick to her conditions. I reckon she knew he were telling a pack o’ lies but chose to turn a blind eye. Anyway, I signed the papers and got me money. I went straight out and paid for the house, and then I bought this. I’ve allus fancied a wagon. And there’s still enough money left for me and little Billy to live on for a good while yet.’ Bridget admired her. ‘You’re mad as a March hare,’ she said, laughing. ‘I never know what you’ll do next.’