As she entered the kitchen, Gran, who was baking, looked up from the sheet of pastry she was rolling out and smiled encouragingly. ‘Well?’ She peered into the basket. ‘Ah, I see you’ve delivered the biscuits. Was she pleased with them? Or did you simply hand them over and run?’

Tess giggled. ‘That’s more or less what I did,’ she acknowledged. ‘But she called me back and gave me this. Then she went back into the house and slammed the door.’

Tess held out the small packet, then carefully began to unwrap the screw of paper whilst Gran watched with her nose only six inches from Tess’s outstretched hand. And when the tissue was peeled back, there, in Tess’s palm, were what appeared to be two smooth white pebbles, of the sort Tess vaguely remembered collecting at the seaside when Mrs Bell had taken her and Jonty down to the nearest beach before it had been closed to the public. Tess knew she would never forget her very first visit to the seashore, and in her little room at the farm she had treasured the pebbles, shells and seaweed she had found there.

But now she said ‘Stones!’ in a disgusted voice and was about to chuck the pebbles down on the table when Gran began to laugh. ‘They’re not stones, you silly girl,’ she said. ‘They’re sugared almonds; haven’t you seen sugared almonds before?’

Tess snorted, then began to giggle helplessly. ‘Oh, Gran, didn’t I tell you that I’d heard one of the girls saying that Marilyn had given Clackem a box of sugared almonds? Oh, wouldn’t Marilyn be furious if she knew Clackem had passed part of her present on to me!’

Gran laughed too, but when Tess offered her one of the sweets she shook her head. ‘I love them, but Miss Cracknell meant you to have them,’ she observed. ‘You eat them up, chuck; I reckon you deserve them.’

‘I’ll leave them for later,’ Tess decided. ‘Is there anything you want me to do around the flat, Gran? Only if not there’s still a chance I might get delivery work of some sort. If I had a pal who wanted work as well we could deliver carpets for old Abraham’s, but I couldn’t manage that on my own. Still, there’s a heap of shops which might employ me just for the last couple of days before Christmas. So if you don’t mind, I’ll go off and see what I can find.’

Gran beamed at her. ‘Don’t worry too much, queen, because I’ve got myself some work which will pay quite nicely,’ she said. She indicated the large sheet of pastry which, now she looked at it closely, Tess realised almost covered the top of the kitchen table. ‘I’m making luxury mince pies for the baker down the road, and they’re paying me pretty well because it’s a rush job, a party for a couple of dozen people. The baker’s asked me to make sausage rolls and some fancy cakes as well, so we’ll be able to afford a small chicken even if we can’t run to a turkey, and after all, who wants a turkey? But I’m afraid you won’t be getting a cooked dinner until Christmas Day, queen, because I’ll be too busy baking to start making meals.’