A red-headed girl in her blue Sunday dress and straw boater and with her hair in a long braid stepped up to the house in Oswy street. Both Anne and her old school friend Kate had been busy since their school days, Anne with all the work that needed to be done at home and preparing and cleaning the lines and nets, and Kate with teaching. The only occasion where they still met regularly was at Sunday school, but the Blackes didn't attend as faithfully as the Wards.

Father had given Anne special permission to miss Sunday school this afternoon to visit the Blackes. The appearance of Joe at Rose's wedding had reminded him of the family who had lived in the Cragg and with whom Hannah had been close friends. 

Anne carried a basket with a fresh cod, which she was to hand to Mrs. Blacke along with her father's regards. She looked up at the house. It was a nicer house than her own, because Mr. Blacke had a steady job and regular income, unlike her own family. Feeling slightly nervous - not for meeting Kate, but for meeting Kate's family, whom she didn't know as well - she knocked on the door.