With that she flounced away. ‘I wonder,’ she muttered, ‘is that child Harry’s?’ She hoped not, for if he thought the child was his, nothing on earth would keep him from Bridget Mulligan’s side.

Harry took small notice of his sister. He didn’t need her to remind him of his duties. He watched Bridget climb into the carriage. She has no love for me, he thought, I saw that in her eyes. But one day she might come to need him. If that day ever came, he would be there for her. The child too, for he had robbed it of its father. Seeing it just now, nestling close to Bridget’s heart, had sent a shiver of regret through him.

Sighing, he turned and left that place.

Bridget saw him go, and her heart was cold. Tom was gone and she was alone, with a child. There was no one to lean on now but herself.

Part Two

1854–59

UPS AND DOWNS

Chapter Seven

‘Brrr! It’s enough to freeze the balls off a pawnshop sign!’

Old Joe Tidy had kept a stall in Blackburn market for nigh on twenty years, and his loathing of winter never wavered. ‘Bloody wind!’ Drawing his coat tighter about him, he blew into his cold, cupped hands. ‘It never stops, does it, eh? Never bloody stops, day and night, blowing a gale, like it were straight from Siberia!’

Bridget finished serving the customer. ‘Thank you, have a lovely Christmas.’ Turning to old Joe, she chided, ‘If you got yourself a little brazier like the other market stallholders, you wouldn’t feel the cold so much.’

He glared at her. ‘Oh aye! I haven’t got money to burn, lass. What profit I make buys the goods, and while you’re thinking of ways to spend my hard-earned cash, don’t forget it pays your wages an’ all.’

Suppressing a grin, Bridget looked suitably penitent. ‘It were just a thought. Sorry.’

‘The cold doesn’t bother you, does it, lass? Here’s me, my lips are chapped and raw, and I can’t feel my fingers, and there’s you, all bright-eyed and rosy-cheeked, charming the customers.’

‘I’ve still got some broth left in my billycan,’ Bridget told him. ‘It’s probably stone cold by now, but you’re welcome to it. It might help keep the cold out.’

‘Go on then, give us the broth. It can’t do no harm.’

Removing the billycan from the pram, Bridget checked to see if Ruth was still asleep. ‘Just look at her,’ she said, calling Joe over. ‘Sleeping like an angel.’

Joe peered into the carriage. ‘Pretty little thing,’ he said. ‘And she’s such a good little bairn. You’d think she’d get fed up with you hanging round here the best part of a day, but not her. She’ll sit and play, and keep herself occupied. The customers think the world of her.’ He clicked his tongue sadly. ‘It is a pity though. The lass deserves a daddy.’ He was immediately contrite. ‘Me an’ my big mouth, I should never have said that. I’m sorry, lass.’