Now, the two Robertses entered the shop cheerfully, Elsie dancing over to the medley of rabbits in the big cage which stretched along the back of the counter. ‘Good morning, bunnies, how are you today?’ she asked in her shrill little voice. ‘Shall I start by cleaning the big cage, Tess? Only Mitch will have to take them out for me and carry them through to the stockroom ’cos of the kicks.’

Tess, remembering her small helper’s effort to carry a fat grey rabbit, smiled. Elsie had done her best but the rabbit knew an amateur when it met one. A couple of wriggles, several hearty kicks, and the rabbit was belting towards the back door and freedom whilst poor Elsie ran in his wake, pleading tearfully, ‘Come to Elsie like a good boy! Oh, please, Mr Bunny, come to Elsie!’

Mr Bunny, bewildered by the juvenile cries – and the height of the wall between it and the jigger – had bolted into the outside lavatory, and was easily captured by Mitch, but it had taught all concerned a lesson: small children and large rabbits do not go together. So now Elsie was allowed to sit quietly on her little stool holding a baby rabbit or kitten in her lap, but larger animals, though she might clean their cages, fill their water pots and provide them with their daily bread, were taboo as far as taking them out of their cages was concerned.

‘I think the puppies could do with fresh sawdust. If your brother lifts them out into the playpen you can give an eye to them when you’ve finished the rabbits’ cage,’ Tess decided. ‘Then when Mitch has done the puppies the pair of you can get started on the guinea pigs, hamsters and gerbils. We’ve plenty of clean sawdust and straw, and when their cages are clean you can feed them, only they mustn’t have anything which Mitch hasn’t given you. Remember what I told you?’

She watched with amusement as Elsie’s cheeks grew pink and she hung her head. ‘Hamsters is greedy pigs and will eat themselves inside out,’ she recited. ‘Like they did when I give ’em all that grain. It were ’cos they looked so hungry, poor little dears. And – and their tummies fell out of their bottoms, and Mr Vet had to put ’em back. So I won’t ever do that again, Tess.’

‘I know you won’t, and I shouldn’t have teased you,’ Tess said remorsefully. ‘You’re a good girl, Elsie, and when you’re grown up you shall have a proper job in the shop, and earn proper money, because I trust you with my animals. Indeed, I’m going to give you a choice for today. I’m going off into the country to meet a man who’s breeding angora rabbits. They have wonderful long fur, soft as silk, so I want to see what his rabbits are like, and whether we would find a sale for them. You see, people don’t just want them as pets. With angora rabbits they comb the fur out every few weeks and weave it into yarn. Then the yarn is made into lovely soft clothing . . .’ She stopped talking, since it was plain that Elsie was no longer listening.