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Thinking of that copper and the hot water made her take her hands out of her pockets to admire them.

While with the Bradleys they had been as bad as Kathleen’s, red raw and ugly, her nails all broken.

When she met Elizabeth she noticed she had beautifully manicured nails and smooth hands, and immediately felt ashamed of hers and tried to hide them.

But while at the guest house in Blandford Street she’d got some special cream from a chemist which she applied nightly, before going to bed wearing cotton gloves.

They improved very quickly. Since then she’d lavished care on them, and now they looked as if she’d never done washing in her life. Her nails were perfect ovals too.

Almost slipping up about her past this morning was worrying.

She had been very careful with Kathleen at first, but she soon found there were danger points.

Cooking was one. Kathleen had often remarked on how much Beth knew.

She quickly said she’d learned at school and her mother used to make her cook their dinner quite often.

In fact she took it a stage further and said she’d always done most of the cleaning too.

It wasn’t natural to chat without occasionally speaking of old memories.

She couldn’t use Elizabeth’s background, because she didn’t know enough about it.

She knew Kathleen must find it very odd she had no little anecdotes to share, tales of relatives, or even the places she’d been.

At first, she got round this by seldom engaging Kathleen in chat, but the older woman must have thought her a cold fish, or a snob who didn’t talk to staff.

But in recent months she had asked Kathleen some questions about her life, if only to show she wasn’t either of those things.

One night soon after she’d got here, she couldn’t sleep for imagining the police had traced Mary Price through her ration book, then gone to the Bradleys to get them to formally identify her body.

In the cold light of day this seemed very unlikely, as during the Blitz dozens of people were killed nightly, and the police wouldn’t have had time to do anything more than report a death to the address they’d found on the body.

Mrs Bradley would’ve said that Mary had no relatives, and they certainly wouldn’t have volunteered to pay for her burial.

Elizabeth must have been buried in a mass grave. And that troubled her.

The air was crisp and fresh, and the sun, though weak, felt warm on her face.

As she walked, she thought once again on the wisdom of coming here.

How different it would’ve been if Elizabeth was here with her, no need for pretence, sharing everything, cooking meals, cleaning, even doing the washing.

Instead, she had more money than she’d ever dreamed of, more than a man here in Ireland could earn in his entire working life, but she was terribly lonely.

She wished she had a friend with her now, someone to laugh and chat with.

Perhaps she ought to try and get a lodger, but why would a single woman want to come to Dunmore if she was working in Waterford or Cork?

Daydreaming about how good it would be to have a companionable lodger, Beth had walked nearly two miles without noticing.

Then suddenly up ahead she saw the doctor’s gig with its distinctive two white bands on the back.

It had been left by a farm gate, and his horse, Henny, was dejectedly grazing on some weeds.

Henny looked round at her as she approached, almost as if she’d recognized her, so Beth went over to her and stroked her nose, and reassured her that the doctor would be out soon.

She hadn’t been with the horse for more than a couple of minutes when she heard the doctor saying goodbye to someone further along the road. She couldn’t see him as there was a hedge and trees in the way.

Her heart quickened, and then she saw him walking towards her.

‘Well, there’s a surprise!’ he exclaimed. ‘Or are you after stealing my horse?’

Beth laughed. ‘I thought she looked sad.’

‘She puts that face on every time I make a home visit. Now, where are you off to?’

‘Just walking. I thought I might go right to Waterford, and buy myself some knitting wool to knit a jumper.’

‘Well, hop on up and I can take you almost the whole way as I’ve got a call to make in that direction.’

Delighted that he seemed as pleased to see her as she was to see him, Beth climbed up beside him. Henny set off at a trot, and Beth found she liked being higher up, able to see over hedges, and feel the wind in her hair.

‘Are you well now?’ Dr McMara asked.

‘Very well, but bored,’ she admitted. ‘I’m not used to doing nothing all day. I’d like a job. I don’t suppose you know of anyone who would take me on?’

‘Most people in these parts have difficulty in just feeding their families.’

‘I meant in a business, not domestic work,’ she said quickly. Yet even as she spoke she realized she had no skills other than cleaning, plain cooking and laundry.

‘Mostly they struggle too,’ he said. ‘You could maybe volunteer at the hospital, they are always glad of an extra pair of hands.’

‘That’s a good idea,’ she said. ‘I found a bicycle in the garden shed. If I could get someone to oil it and pump up the tyres, I could ride it into Waterford.’

‘Ask Kathleen, she’ll know someone. Do you want me to teach you to ride it?’

Beth laughed. ‘I used to ride my friend’s bike when I was about ten,’ she said. ‘I just hope it’s true you don’t ever forget.’

‘And there was me thinking I had the perfect excuse to see you,’ he said.

Beth turned her head to look at him. That sounded like flirting, but he was smiling so maybe only joking. ‘I think the good people of Dunmore would find it extremely suspicious if their doctor took to giving bike-riding lessons,’ she said.

‘Everyone around here is suspicious of everything. Catholics seem to see Sin in even the most insignificant word or deed,’ he laughed.

‘I do hope Kathleen recommends a man over sixty to see to your bike, or he’ll have to be off to the confessional telling the priest he had impure thoughts imagining your bottom on the saddle. ’

Beth giggled.

Just a few minutes later he drove the gig towards a gate into a field. ‘I always stop here to visit auld Peggy because her cottage is on a bend and anyone coming along fast, like your tinker the other night, and poor Peggy might be hurt. It’s only about half a mile into Waterford now.’

He jumped down and came round to her, taking her by the waist to help her down. But he didn’t let go of her as she reached the ground. In fact he held her tighter.

Then he kissed her. A real kiss on the lips. As his lips touched hers, she knew full well she should back away, but she didn’t. It wasn’t a passionate kiss, but it also wasn’t an entirely chaste one.

‘No, Doctor,’ she said a little too late, and pushed him away. ‘You shouldn’t do that.’

She could feel her face had gone red, but he was smiling down at her.

‘Why not?’ he said. ‘You are lovely and I couldn’t resist.’

‘You are a married man,’ she said. ‘What if someone saw that?’

‘There’s a cow watching,’ he joked, pointing to a black and white one looking right at them.

‘Don’t be silly,’ she said, but she wanted to laugh, and more alarmingly she was hoping he’d kiss her again. ‘Now, I must go. So behave yourself with old Peggy!’

‘I’ll not give up on you,’ he called out as he tethered Henny.

Beth didn’t dignify that by looking round. But it made her smile.