Now, when little Sal put the question, ‘Well, can we go to Mick, then? I like Mick, Mammy,’ Molly could find no words to answer. Instead, she gently put her finger to the child’s lips. ‘Ssh, sweetheart,’ she whispered, taking her by the hand and leading her to the bed, where she coaxed the child in and tucked her up. The other two were sleeping so soundly that they were not disturbed; only Tom fidgeted, making a strange little noise as he struggled to roll himself over.

In a while, when she was satisfied that Sal was sleeping, Molly took off her boots and dress, and the cotton undergarments that were more practical than comfortable. In a moment, she also had climbed into the bunk and was heavy with sleep. She wasn’t altogether surprised when a stocky little figure climbed in alongside her and nestled close to her heart. It was strange how Peggy seemed to know instinctively when her mammy was ready for sleep. Molly closed her arms about the child, and, in no time at all, the room was quiet, save for the soft, rhythmic breathing of slumbering souls.

Outside, the wind gained momentum, shivering against the walls of the outhouse and pushing in through the many cracks in its aged walls. Soon the rain was spilling down with a vengeance and the night was quickly lifting into daylight. Molly, though, was oblivious to it all. The sleep she had denied herself was upon her at last, refreshing her, and preparing her for the upheavals to come. Upheavals that would try her courage and strength to the full, and of a kind that not even Molly in her worst nightmare could have envisaged.

‘But I want to leave today, Mr Craig!’ Molly protested. ‘I was hoping you would pay me my week in hand, and let me go right away.’

‘I’m sorry, girlie. I can’t do that.’ Bill Craig had been up since early light this Sunday morning; first to accompany his wife to her regular service at nearby St Mary’s Church, and afterwards to see her safely to the station. It was ten in the morning when he was summoned to the door by Molly’s insistent knocking. The sight of her standing there with a freshly scrubbed face and her pretty figure looking especially desirable in that brown, swinging skirt and grey shawl, beneath which was her best ivory-coloured blouse, sent a delicious thrill right through him.

‘I’ve made up my mind to go, Mr Craig,’ Molly told him, with a defiant gleam in her dark eyes. ‘Please be so kind as to pay what you owe me, and I’ll be on my way.’

Unfortunately, the man was equally adamant. He had particular reasons for refusing Molly’s demands. And they were very different from the ones he stated now. ‘Look, Molly, I don’t mean to be harsh. You know I’d pay you up and wish you a safe journey, wherever you mean to go.’ He waited, as though for Molly to explain her destination. When it became plain that she had no intention of doing any such thing, he went on, ‘But y’see, if you was to up sticks and leave me in a minute’s notice like this… you’d have to go without your pay, I’m afeared. First of all, it’s the wife who sees to the wages and such like. And, I’m telling you, girlie, if I was to interfere in her cash-box, you wouldn’t be the only one travelling down the road, ’cause she’d throw a blue fit when she got home a Tuesday, and with the black temper she’s got, I’d be kicked out that door in no time!’ He smiled sweetly and scratched his head, feigning to think of a way out of his dilemma for Molly’s sake. ‘Naw. Like I say, I’m sorry, but I daren’t open that there cash-box… it’s more than me life’s worth, an’ that’s the very truth.’