Edie had explained to the doctor about the ice cream parlour and the business plan, and had said over and over that once their small business was up and running she would spend most of the day sitting in a chair, with her leg raised on another. The doctor had nodded, smiled, admired her courage and merely reiterated his conviction that impatience would get her nowhere. ‘You must serve your time, my dear lady, just like everyone else,’ he had said kindly. ‘Believe me, we are as anxious to see the back of you as you are to see the back of us, but the old adage more haste, less speed applies to anyone with a badly fractured tibia. Patience is a virtue which I fear has been left out of your make-up, but it’s a virtue I’m afraid you have to learn.’

So now Edie awaited her visitors with no good news to impart, though she always greeted them with a bright smile and asked eagerly how things were progressing. On this particular evening she saw that Albert was alone and greeted him anxiously. ‘Where’s Tess, Albert? I thought she was working a day shift at this nursery place until school starts again.’

‘So she is,’ Albert agreed, sitting down on the bench beside the bed. ‘But she has booked an appointment with the headmaster this evening so I’ve agreed that tomorrow night she can come and see you by herself whilst I get on with my stock-take.’ He looked anxiously at Edie. ‘To tell you the truth, my dear, I have an uneasy feeling that Tess wants a word with you alone.’

‘An uneasy feeling? What on earth should give you that impression? Oh, I know you told me she’d brought my business folder to you so that you might put it away for safe keeping whilst the landlord is taking prospective tenants round the flat, but you said she hadn’t opened it, and anyway I’ve gone through it in my mind and there’s nothing in it I wouldn’t want Tess to see. It’s just insurance policies, wage returns, contracts and so on. Nothing which relates to Tess herself, so far as I can remember.’

Albert gave a sigh of relief. ‘That’s all right then,’ he said thankfully. ‘I know I’ve never been good at secrets – keeping them, I mean – so I’m probably just imagining that Tess has given me one or two strange looks lately. But I wanted to talk to you seriously anyway. I’ve got a whole heap of information from the people who advise small businesses, and we were quite right when we thought the milliner’s shop wouldn’t be suitable. It isn’t just that it’s too small, it’s the wrong shape, if you understand me. The average ice cream parlour needs to have kitchen premises . . . oh, I can’t explain . . .’ He hooked out the briefcase which he had pushed under the bench, clicked it open and produced a pile of papers, handing them to Edie. ‘There are plans for several different milk bars, ice cream parlours and small cafés, and try though I might I can’t make the milliner’s shop fit into any of these categories. As you know, it’s wider than it’s long, and the ideal ice cream parlour should be longer than it’s wide. Oh, dear, that isn’t a very good explanation, but you’ll see what I mean when you’ve studied the examples our business adviser has found up.’