They had stopped walking during this exchange, but now they started again, Snowy having changed his mind and headed instead for Paddy’s Market. He raised his brows. ‘Me? What do I matter? But I have to admit I’m one of the lucky ones. Both my parents are teachers; Dad’s a headmaster and Mother runs the English department in his school. So I don’t have to deliver newspapers or help out in a corner shop in order to go to university.’

‘Lucky old you,’ Jonty said, but he didn’t mean it; the mere thought of having a teacher in his own house was frightening. Expectations from such parents would be high, but thinking it over, as Snowy ushered him into the market, Jonty realised that he would not exchange his life on Bell Farm for anything at all. The long hours and the small rewards were worth it when you considered the freedom one enjoyed. Oh, Snowy – and Tess too for that matter – might be able to visit museums and art galleries; they might have their choice of several different pictures at the cinema whereas, by and large, Jonty only had whatever Mr Lyons’s mobile picture house provided. Snowy and Tess could go round the shops and see all sorts of different goods, even if Tess, at least, was unable to buy very much. She had told him how she and her friend Lucy sometimes caught the ferry to Woodside to enjoy a whiff of country air and a walk through woods and fields. But this was an expedition which had to be planned for days in advance. The girls had to save up to buy their passage on the ferry, and the picnic – which they called a carryout – would be pretty boring when compared with the sort of thing Jonty’s mother would have provided. I can stroll along the lane and pick a handful of ripe blackberries, or help myself to wild apples or hazelnuts, Jonty told himself with deep content. A city is all very well for city folk, but it wouldn’t do for me. He glanced at his companion, who was rifling through the second-hand clothing on one of the stalls, and grinned to himself. Snowy might think him an ignorant country boy but he knew the meaning of the word bucolic, knew Snowy had not meant it kindly. But what did it matter, after all? Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me, Jonty quoted to himself. But I wonder why Snowy had that dig at me? Could it be that he’s jealous because I’ve known Tess longer than he has? Well, it’s not important, because I’ll be going home in a couple of days and the next time I see Tess it’ll be on the farm, in the country we both love, and Tess will have left Snowy and the city behind her. I just hope she’ll get this Higher Certificate and then come down from the clouds, because what’s the use of a university education for a farmer’s wife?