It was a sad state of affairs when the mother-to-be looked less in distress than her assistant midwife. Indeed the mother was breathing quite methodically – well-trained woman – and was fortunately remaining quite calm (it would be some hours later when Temperance recalled that Mrs Hughes’ last but one child had been born the same way).

The trouble was that Blythe seemed to have been rendered entirely immobile by what Temperance had considered a fairly easy request. Rolling her eyes she reached out to take hold of her niece’s hand, pulling her the last few steps towards the bed and placing it firmly against the top of Mrs Hughes’ swelling belly.

“Here,” she said. “The head. Quite the wrong way around for our purposes. Can you feel it?”

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Wonderful set by Lady <3