‘No!’ May exclaimed. ‘It’s not measles. They’re just bites. Please don’t send me to the infirmary.’

Nan came closer and scrutinised her face, then pushed up her sleeve and examined her red and swollen arm.

‘Those look like bedbug bites to me. Where have you picked them up?’ May could only shake her head and Nan went on, ‘We’ll have to check your room. It’ll probably have to be fumigated. Why didn’t you show me these before?’

‘I … I didn’t know what it was,’ May stammered. ‘I’ll check it when I get home this evening. Please, don’t you worry about it. I’ll wash all the sheets and everything.’

‘Hmm.’ Nan searched her face for a moment, then said, ‘Well, get on with your work for now. But if you’ve brought those creatures in here …’

She said nothing more and May spent the rest of the morning anxiously trying to work out how to deal with the bugs without revealing Patty’s presence. Nan always went out for her midday meal, instead of eating in the canteen, and May had guessed some time ago that she went to the pub, so she thought nothing of it when she left. But when she returned to work after the dinner break Nan appeared at the door.

‘Come with me, miss. Mr Freeman wants a word with you. I popped home in the dinner break and guess what I found!’’

In Mr Freeman’s office May found a shaking, tearful Patty.

‘Oh May, I’m that sorry! I never meant to get you into trouble. I’m so sorry.’

‘Never mind apologies,’ Mr Freeman said. ‘I want an explanation. May?’

In broken sentences May told him how she had found Patty and the lengths she had gone to keep her concealed.

‘So that’s why you’ve lost your appetite,’ Nan said. ‘You’ve been feeding her your own food.’

Mr Freeman sighed deeply. ‘May, I am disappointed in you. I never thought you capable of deception. You have abused Nan’s hospitality and my trust. Many employers would dismiss you on the spot.’

‘Oh, please, sir, don’t send me away!’ May’s voice broke. ‘Where would I go? What would I do?’

‘That is precisely why I am going to give you another chance,’ Mr Freeman said. ‘We have seen what lengths a young woman is forced to go to if she loses her position. I do not wish to be responsible for consigning you to that fate. You will stay, and Nan has agreed that you can continue to live with her. But the room will have to be fumigated and the bedding probably burnt, and the cost of that will come out of the money I was going to allow you. You need not expect to receive anything for several months at least.’