In her worry about Joe, there were only so many times Lottie could clean the house.  At least Bill could go work.  But there was one thing to which Lottie could channel her righteous anger, and that was the neglect of poor Anne Ward by her family.  The fiasco in the dress shop had served to underline just how badly that family had failed in their duty of care for such a sweet soul. The threat of a rolling pin had quieted dissent in the Blacke household to providing what Anne Ward lacked. The poor dear seemed to carry the whole emotional weight of her family.  The Wards seemed to have nothing but cockle shells between their ears.

With the battered child’s corset hidden in a basket, Lottie made her way to the Cragg to say her piece to the Wards.