After Christmas things seemed rather flat, for the weather remained extremely cold, and though Tess tried to offer her services to anyone who wanted a delivery person or counter hand she had no luck. She and Gran, having splashed out for the festive season, now had to tighten their belts, and when a letter came from Jonty Bell suggesting that they might like to visit the farm there was no possibility of their going, even if they’d wanted to. The train fare was out of the question, and anyway they were just beginning to settle down in Heyworth Street and Tess did not want to spoil things. Of course she would have loved to see Jonty and her other friends, but she knew instinctively that it was not the right thing to do. Norfolk was full of airfields and the Bells entertained members of the air force from time to time, and one of the things the young airmen had said was that during initial training no leave was allowed. At the time Tess had thought this was rather mean, but now she felt she understood the reasoning behind it. If she went back to the farm whilst still not completely at home in Liverpool the visit might merely increase her discontent. If, however, she and Gran saved their visit for the summer, when of course there would be much more to do on the farm, they would both enjoy the holiday but would return to the city without too many regrets.

Jonty’s letter was a long and interesting one and it must be confessed that Tess felt a pang when she imagined her old friend sitting at the kitchen table, one hand pushing his sandy hair into a tuft on top of his head whilst the other gripped the pen and held it poised over the pad of paper. It was the second letter he had dispatched from Norfolk and Tess did her very best to reply as entertainingly, but it was difficult. For a start, she knew all the people Jonty was writing about: the teachers at the village school, the other pupils, and of course the entire Bell clan. On the other hand, the only people Jonty had heard of in Liverpool were Gran and herself. She could scarcely describe all the members of her class to him, and it would not do to admit she had no school friends, so her own letters had tended to be about the odd trip to the cinema, or shopping expeditions with Gran.

Now, having penned a polite refusal to Jonty’s invitation, she looked up from addressing the envelope and glanced across at Gran, who was sitting in the creaking old basket chair near the fire, knitting industriously. She and Tess had gone to Paddy’s Market a couple of days earlier in search of an old jumper or cardigan which they could unpick in order to use the wool to make Gran a scarf the same shade as her Christmas present. Tess waved the letter between Gran’s spectacles and her flying needles. ‘Gran, is there anything you want from the shops? Only I’ve written back to Jonty asking him to thank his mother for her invitation and saying that we’d like to come in the summer if that’s all right with them. Have you got a stamp? I’d like to send it off straight away, just in case Mrs Bell would like to ask someone else instead of us.’