But Tess was no longer listening. ‘I shall need bales of straw for bedding, hay and grain for feeding, poultry meal, and a great many other things,’ she was murmuring. ‘I’ll talk to Jonty tomorrow evening, because I’m sure he would put a couple of bales of hay and a couple of straw and probably a sack of poultry meal on to the train so that I could pick it up at this end. I know that things are moved about the country by train, so why not animal feed? Unless, of course, I found I could buy it more cheaply locally. Then there are goldfish; I’ve yet to meet a kid who doesn’t yearn to have a goldfish after a visit to the fair. There’s a Christmas fair here every year; I’m sure the fair people would tell me where they get their goldfish if I ask politely. Of course all pet shops sell rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters and the like, and until we’re established and can breed our own . . .’

But Albert was laughing, clapping his hands, trying to break into her monologue. ‘All right, all right, I’m convinced,’ he said. ‘First things first, however! Before you can start doing anything, you must get Edie’s consent to the scheme. After all, it’s not everyone who would fancy living over a pet shop full of live animals and birds. And if you intend to ask her to use her savings . . .’

‘. . . and kittens and puppies, of course; everyone loves kittens and puppies,’ Tess went on, oblivious. ‘Why, these dear little kittens could be our first attraction, because a box of kittens playing together would have every child for miles with its nose pressed against the windowpane. Parents might baulk at the price we would have to ask for a puppy, but kittens are not only cheap to buy, they’re cheap to keep. Oh, and I can go round the slaughterhouses, down by the ferry port, and buy meat which isn’t fit for human consumption, and sell it for dog and cat food . . .’

Albert was still laughing, holding up his hand like a policeman stopping traffic. ‘All right, all right, I get the idea,’ he said. ‘It’s time I left you, and you went to bed. Think it over, and tomorrow we’ll both go to the hospital and see how Edie feels about her granddaughter starting up in business as a pet shop owner.’

Next day Tess went to the nursery wondering how she would get through the day until work finished and she could go to the hospital and tell Gran all about her exciting new scheme. But she enjoyed her work and somehow the time passed until she found herself at last making her way across the hospital foyer, heading for Gran’s ward. When she pushed her way in through the doors, along with a crowd of others, Albert was already there and for a moment Tess felt the old familiar flame of jealousy flare up. He would have told Gran the news, said it was his own casual remark which had given her the idea, taken the credit for it. Not for the first time, she felt she hated Albert. But as she walked towards the bed and saw Gran smiling at her she chided herself. How could she have had such an ungenerous thought? She knew very well, really, that Albert would not have said a word. So she returned Gran’s smile, and when Albert moved up she slid on to the bench beside him.