"Were there lots of drinking?" she asks as she unlocks her door. There are no sounds of the children from inside, which means Abby has likely taken them to the park, for which Demelza is briefly grateful before she finds herself slightly ashamed. It's only that it's much easier to bake or cook when Julia isn't running around her feet or when Jeremy isn't crying to be fed, and for all she would very much like her new friend to meet her entire family, she knows taken all at once they can be a bit much.

For now it's only Garrick who comes to the door to greet them, his tail wagging furiously at the sight of his favourite person.

"I always found men were a great deal more stupid when they were in their cups and that's where rivalries stemmed from," she says, pushing the dog aside even as she addresses him. "Hello, love, yes, I've come back. Every time I leave, you'd think I'd abandoned him. Greta, this is my dog Garrick. He's been with me since he were only a pup and he's the reason Ross paid me any mind at all, come to think of it. Men in Bodmin were trying to make him fight another dog and I was trying to stop it when Ross came upon the scene."