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sky was turning grey and threatening. She just hoped that the rain would keep off, for she had brought no umbrella.
    In her basket she carried a package containing a pork pie, two pickled eggs and some bread and cheese – Mr Haskin’s midday dinner which he had forgotten to take along with him earlier that morning. It was not the first time it had happened during Lily’s employment with the family.
    The year now was 1866, and it would soon be three years since she had come to Whitton to begin her work with Mr and Mrs Haskin. Thinking of it sometimes lately, she could scarcely believe that so much time had gone by – how, almost unnoticed, the days had slipped into weeks, the weeks into months, and the months into years. It had, generally, thankfully, been a painless process.
    Following her arrival she had settled fairly swiftly into a routine and was very soon going about her duties as a matter of course. She had been relieved to find also, that after initial misgivings about Mrs Haskin’s rather sharp manner, for the most part she got on well with her. As the weeks passed, Mrs Haskin had seemed to relax and soften in her manner towards the girl, and, evidently, to judge herworthy of her bed and board and £12 a year. Even so, Lily had to watch her step, for there were occasions when her mistress would be prone to outbursts and passions, and a slip in Lily’s work might result in a sharp rebuke, or on very rare occasions, a quick dig with a hard hand.
    As for Mr Haskin, Lily had come to know him little better as the time had passed. He was altogether different from his wife. He appeared an easy-going man and, though not much of a one for conversation, was invariably pleasant to Lily. He seemed to regard her with a rather tolerant amusement, for which attitude she could find no reason. A wheelwright by trade, he owned a third of a partnership in a small carriage-construction company, by name of Silver and Son, on the eastern side of Whitton, making – and also repairing – smart broughams and phaetons for those who could afford such things. He loved his work and was closely involved in all aspects of the manufacture of the carriages, from the setting of the springs to the sewing of the upholstery. He worked long hours, leaving home in the mornings just after seven, and not returning until seven in the evening. Even at weekends he would frequently end up at the factory. Usually he rode on his chestnut cob for the mile-and-a-half journey, though on occasions he would hitch up the trap.
    Lily had often visited the factory during her time in Whitton, usually to take Mr Haskin some message, or to deliver some food or item that he had perhaps forgotten or which was not ready at the time of his leaving the house. On her first visit, soon after her coming to Whitton, he had taken pride in showing her around the workshops, and with fascination she had watched the men at their various tasks, observing them at different stages of the carriages’ construction, as they built everything, starting with the first basic part, right to the final polish on the woodwork. She had been impressed, and the thought came to her thatperhaps one day she too might go and work there. At present there was only one female in Mr Haskin’s employ, but Lily reckoned it was only a matter of time before there were more.
    Lily’s continuing employment with the Haskins was now a matter for some consideration for her. She had turned eighteen earlier that July and had already stayed on longer than was usual in such a domestic position, particularly when it offered no chance of betterment. It was time, she had begun to tell herself more and more, to move on somewhere else. But where was she to go, and to do what? What she had most set her heart upon – becoming a schoolteacher – had been put beyond her reach, and she could think of nothing else that she was fitted for or that she wanted to do.
    Going by way of the little borough park saved Lily a tedious