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to shift to different parts of his anatomy according to his needs.
    ‘He’s an old fraud,’ Mark said as the door closed on their grandfather. ‘I’ve seen him nip around like a two-year-old when he thought no one was looking.’ He slapped Luke on the shoulder. ‘C’mon, fellow, let’s leave the women to do their work.’
    ‘Eh? What’s up?’ Luke gave a start, looking like someone awakened from a deep sleep. ‘What’s the matter?’
    ‘You were day-dreaming, as usual,’ Nell said with a reproving frown.
    ‘I expect he was making up one of his boring poems.’ Molly made a face at Luke who was blinking like a startled owl.
    Lily felt instantly sorry for him. Poor Luke was always the butt of Mark’s jokes, and Molly was just as bad. She gave him an encouraging smile.
    Aggie was not so sympathetic. ‘Both of you boys can get out of my kitchen. I want this place cleaned up so that I can sit by the fire and put my feet up.’
    ‘Get up you jackass.’ Mark chuckled as he dragged Luke’s chair away from the table, tipping it so that his brother slid from his seat.
    ‘Can’t you leave a fellow in peace?’ Luke grumbled.
    ‘You heard what Aggie said. You’re in the way, little brother.’ Mark cuffed him gently round the head. ‘The girls have the clearing up to do so you’d best go and soliloquise somewhere else.’
    Luke grinned sheepishly. ‘Sorry, Aggie. I was miles away. I’ll go now.’
    ‘Men. You’re all the same,’ Molly called after them as they left the kitchen. ‘That’s right; leave us to do all the work.’ She pointed to their chairs, carelessly abandoned without having been tucked back under the table. ‘They expect to be waited on hand and foot. You’d think we were their blooming slaves.’
    ‘That’s just the way it is,’ Nell said calmly. ‘And probably the way it will always be. Don’t forget they were risking their lives fighting that fire, so perhaps we should be glad to look after them.’
    ‘Nell’s right, it’s the way of the world.’ Aggie lowered herself into her chair by the range. ‘Women were put on this earth to look after their men. I don’t know what the good Lord was about, but that’s how it’s always been and that’s how it will continue. Anyway, I’ve donemy bit for you all today. It’s your job to wash and dry the dishes when Matt has finished in the scullery. I’m going to have forty winks and I don’t want to hear you girls squabbling.’
    ‘Bloody hell,’ Molly muttered beneath her breath but just loud enough for Lily to hear. ‘There must be more to life than this. I’m going to marry the first rich bloke that asks me.’
    Nell stood up, brushing crumbs from her skirt. ‘I’m going to check on my patient, just to make sure he’s all right.’
    Molly waited until the door closed behind her sister and she shook her fist. ‘She always manages to get out of doing the washing up.’
    Aggie opened one eye. ‘She does her fair share. Nell took on the housekeeping when your ma ran off and you should be grateful to her. By the way, someone needs to go out into the yard and fetch water from the pump.’
    Lily sighed. ‘I’ll do it or else you’ll spend the whole evening grumbling.’
    ‘Right,’ Molly said, perking up visibly. ‘Good girl.’
    It was past eight o’clock by the time they had washed the dishes and put them away. Aggie might pretend to be asleep but she opened her eyes every so often to inspect their work and she insisted that the floor had to be swept and mopped and the table set for breakfast next morning.
    After she had finished her chores Lily escaped to the privacy of the bedchamber she shared with Molly and Nell. Everyone else, apart from Aggie who slept in asmall room off the kitchen, had gone to huddle round the fire in the living room, but Lily had a secret which she had managed to keep from her family for many years.

Chapter Three
    Lily closed the bedroom door, taking care not to make a noise. She knew that