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take your mother’s suitcase off the top of my wardrobe. Pack every single thing you’ve got into it.’
    ‘My books too?’
    Winifred looked at her in exasperation. ‘You and your damned books. All right. Take them. They’re not worth much. Take everything you want. You’ll not be coming back. I’m going to be renting your room out.’
    ‘But where am I—?’
    ‘Just do as you’re told.’ She went to the foot of the stairs and yelled, ‘Norris! Down here.’
    He came running down, scowling at Harriet, who moved along the hall and waited for him to pass before she went upstairs.
    She got the suitcase down and began to pack, terrified of what would happen to her now. Where was she going? Surely Winifred wasn’t going to put her in the workhouse?
    She hid her mother’s locket and brooch among her spare knickers and vests. Winifred didn’t know she had thejewellery because her father had told her to keep the pieces out of sight.
    After some hesitation, she went downstairs and knocked on the closed kitchen door.
    Winifred came to answer her knock. ‘I’ve not finished with Norris. Stay upstairs till I call you.’
    ‘I just wanted to know if it was all right to take my mother’s family Bible.’ She gestured towards the front room.
    ‘Books! That’s all you think of. Yes. Take the damned thing. It’s so old the leather’s crumbling, so it can’t be worth much. Take any of the books you fancy. You’ll want something to remember your parents by.’
    Harriet managed to cram two of her favourite books into the suitcase as well as the Bible, but that was all it would hold and she had to sit on it to make it close. She didn’t want to leave the others. Perhaps she could tie them up with string and make a handle of it to carry them. But she couldn’t get the ball of string till Winifred had finished in the kitchen.
    She brushed her hair and tied it back as neatly as she could, then sat on the bed waiting to be called down, feeling exhausted. She could do nothing about the bruises and scratches on her face. She couldn’t do much about anything, it seemed. Other people were ordering her life now.
    But one day she’d manage to do things for herself. Whatever it took, she would find a way. Her teacher had said she was clever. Now she had to prove it.
     
    Winifred looked at her bruised and battered son. ‘Sorry I hurt you so much. I got a bit carried away. I was angry with you.’
    ‘She encouraged me.’
    ‘I wasn’t born yesterday. She damned well didn’t. Look, Norris, if you can’t control yourself, you’ll get nowhere in this life.’
    She let that sink in, then continued, ‘I’ve got some ideas for making money. A lot of money. And I want you in it with me. But it’ll be no good if you can’t control yourself. Not just this, but your temper. We want to come out of it respectable. Before I’m through, I want a big house, servants, all sorts of things. And I’m going to get them, too. Are you in with me or are you going to carry on being lazy and getting into fights?’
    ‘Money?’
    ‘A lot of money.’
    ‘Harriet’s … a temptation.’
    ‘I’m sending her away. You’ll get your women quietly after this and treat them well. I don’t want you spoiling my plans by having a reputation for roughing them up.’
    He leant back. ‘You never talked about this before.’
    ‘I had James. He’d not have listened to my ideas. Now, I’ve a mind to do what I want.’
    Norris nodded slowly. ‘All right. You’re on.’
    ‘Good lad.’
    She went to the foot of the stairs and yelled, ‘Harriet! Come down here and bring your suitcase.’
    When Harriet brought the suitcase down, she said, ‘Just a minute.’ She ran back upstairs and brought down the books. ‘I need to tie these together with string.’
    Winifred sighed. ‘All right. Though what you want with them, I don’t know. Books don’t bring you money.’

Chapter Two
    Doris Miller limped slowly across to the china cabinet and took out