Alice looked up when someone called her name. Lory. She had always liked Lory and yet often disliked her as well, especially back in school. Alice's teacher telling her parents she was smart and should stay in school, winning that Whitby spelling medal, and making it pupil teacher, had made her feel great, better than her siblings perhaps, and had made her feel like she was destined for greater things. Lory being smart and making it pupil teacher before her had always bothered her a little.

But look at us now. Alice had 'made it' up the social ladder. But through a marriage and her husband's money, not through her own talents. And Lory, well, she had lost her position as pupil teacher as well, and now she was just a common fishlass.

And again, Alice envied her.

She dropped her shawl, to expose her more elegant clothes. "Lory," she said, trying to sound cordial and cheerful. "It's lovely to see you."