Anne gave him a small smile and nodded. "I 'ope ye'll like livin' in Whitby, though I'm sure it'll be borin' compared to... Leeds was it?"

"Every city has it's charm, Anne. You just have to find it." Nate would have to search hard to find the positives of this seaside port. The fact that it was far from Castleton was a good start. "Do you want to stay in Whitby, Anne?" Nate asked. Surely it was the prerogative of the young to want to 'fly the nest'.

"Oh, uh..." Anne felt a little awkward thinking about the question. She preferred not to think about her future, and when she did, it was wishful thinking, like that she would somehow find a job somewhere else and Alice and her could run away together and she could look after her sister. The reality, she knew deep down, was quite different. "Not really. The only way I'd go somewhere else would me as a maid, and me sister was one and was glad to get married."

"Well, the factories in the big cities are always looking for keen workers. And they pay well too. London, Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds ta name a few." Nate shook out his newspaper to read it. "Point is, yer not stuck 'ere, if ye don't want to be. I left Castleton when I were just a bit older than ye are now for London. So, I know the feelin' of needin ta get away."

The idea was inviting. For a second, Anne allowed herself to entertain a pleasant vision of a future where she made her own money, enough to help Alice and her child live independently too, somewhere in the big city. She looked all smart like she imagined women who made their own money in the city did.

Then she remembered that her family needed her. She could not leave.

"I suppose..." she muttered. "You don't seem-," she flustered. "Sorry," she muttered. "Please, read yer paper. I won't distract ye no more, Mr. Appleton."