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eyes.
    â€˜I’ll tell him.’ She held her head aloft for he had come specially to the cottage in the row to ask Dad to return to work and it was a good feeling.
    She stood in the doorway and the gas lights were lit now along the cobbled roadway, casting shadows into the canal, but her eyes were on the tall figure disappearing into the distance. The sharp sudden turmoil within her made her catch her breath. Her skin seemed to tingle where he had touched her and she felt again the strength of his long, sensitive fingers. But men like the copper boss were not to be trusted and she would not lose her head over him, she told herself firmly.
    Quite abruptly huge drops of rain began to fall cold and sharp, beating up from the cobbles. Children were running into the cottages and doors began to close so that in a moment the row was empty. Mali sighed and moved back into the kitchen, about to close her own door when a light voice called to her.
    â€˜Mali don’t shut me out, ‘tis me, Katie.’
    The Irish girl hurried inside, her hair swinging damply against her shoulders and her pale skin holding a radiance that had nothing to do with the coldness of the night air.
    â€˜I’ve just left me William.’ She spoke breathlessly. ‘I’m in love so I am.’
    Mali smiled, ‘Sit down have some tea, ti’n disgwl yn oer .’
    Katie laughed and flung back her hair. ‘What strange words you speak Mali, but soft and beautiful so they are.’
    â€˜I only meant you must be cold,’ Mali explained, stirring the coals beneath the kettle. ‘Bring me some cups from the dresser and tell me all about your William.’
    Katie did as she was told and her high boots patterned the slabs of the floor with dampness.
    â€˜Oh such a buck you’ve never seen in your life,’ she said, her eyes shining. ‘Always wanting to kiss and cuddle so he is but it don’t do to give in right away.’ She sank into a chair, crossing one slender leg over the other and lifting her skirts to the fire’s warmth. ‘I shall hold out against his coaxing so I will,’ she asserted. ‘Tell him no until he makes me an offer of wedded bliss all proper like.’ Her eyes were suddenly misty.
    â€˜But it’s so hard to refuse the man when me insides tell me he’s mine and I’m his and nothing between us can be wrong.’
    Mali warmed the brown teapot. ‘Be careful Katie,’ she said soberly. ‘If you end up full with child your dad will throw you out into the street.’
    Katie seemed unperturbed. ‘To be sure an’ don’t I know that? But I won’t have no babe, I know better than to be caught.’
    Mali laughed sceptically. ‘Aye, so that’s why your mam and dad has four of you is it? Told them how to do it proper like did you?’
    Katie sighed softly in exasperation. ‘Me ma and dad is supposed to have a babe whenever they lay together, that’s our religion and for sure you’ve know us Murphys long enough to understand that much, Mali Llewelyn. Course it don’t always happen ’cos I’ve heard them often enough rollin’ around in that creaky old bed of theirs.’ She leaned forward, her elbows on her knees, her slender hands cupping her chin.
    â€˜Don’t go on for long though, Ma cries and Dad starts to snore and it’s all over and done with like a dog and a bitch in the street.’ Her voice held a trace of disgust and Mali shook her head at her.
    â€˜You’re a cat, do you know that? Talking about your mother and father that way, you should be ashamed, mind.’
    Katie shrugged her slim shoulders. ‘Maybe I should but I pray to the Blessed Virgin that it won’t ever get like that for me and Will.’ Her smile became soft and she seemed to be dreaming of experiences that were beyond Mali’s understanding.
    â€˜But then Will loves me.’ She sat back in her