He looked up and she saw that behind the bravado he was terrified. She sat on the bench beside him and took his hand. ‘Tell me what happened.’

He hesitated, then began, his voice thick with anguish. ‘There’s this girl. Lily’s her name. She’s Mick’s girl, not mine, but he doesn’t treat her right. He doesn’t look after her. She’s only a kid, not much older than me. I try to look out for her. I was going back to the lodgings. I’d had a few drinks; I admit that. I saw her there, on the corner, waiting for Mick, and this bloke came up to her. Big fat bloke in a posh suit. He wanted her to come with him, but she didn’t want to. She kept telling him she was waiting for someone else. He was pulling at her, calling her a whore, saying she had to go with anyone who asked her. I went over and asked him to leave her alone and he turned round and asked was I her pimp. Then he laughed and said he wanted her and he could pay for it, so what was I going to do about it. He’d been drinking too, I could smell it, and I could see Lily was really afraid of him. So I hit him.’

‘What happened then?’

‘He started shouting for the watch and a peeler came round the corner and the bloke told him he was just walking past and I went for him and hit him for no reason. ’Course I tried to tell them what really happened but they didn’t want to listen to me. He was upper class, a gent, so they took his word against mine.’

‘What about the girl? Didn’t she stick up for you?’

‘Lily? No, she scarpered as soon as she saw the policeman. Can’t blame her. She’d have ended up in the cells for soliciting.’

May shook her head. ‘Oh, Gus. I don’t know what to do.’ ‘I told you. There’s nothing you can do.’

The turnkey looked in. ‘Time’s up, miss. You’ll have to go now.’

May rose. ‘Don’t worry, Gus. I’ll think of something. There must be someone who can help.’

He made no reply, just sunk his head in his hands, and the turnkey slammed the door shut.

Outside, May discovered that Snowy and Mick had vanished and she was on her own. She began to walk back towards home, racking her brains. Gus had been at fault, but he didn’t deserve to be sent to prison. The man he had punched had lied. It was unjust. Someone must be able to help.