‘Oh yes, I’ve bought that. But there’s another girl I need a present for,’ Snowy said quickly, scowling at his pal. ‘The necklaces are pretty but they wouldn’t be suitable for her.’ He held out the bangles he and Lyana had chosen, paid for them, saw them popped into a brown paper bag and turned away from the stall to address the girl beside him. ‘Care to come along with my pal and myself to the Shackles for a meal? They have a band and a dance floor . . .’

The girl looked up at him and Snowy could read her doubts. ‘It’s all right, honest to God it is,’ he said quickly. ‘We’re dead respectable, Capper and me. We’ve both got girlfriends back home and it won’t be all that long before we get sent back to the UK. So you see, all we want is your company . . .’

He was looking down into the girl’s small, heart-shaped face and saw it suddenly lit by laughter. ‘No strings,’ she said. ‘That’s how you say it: no strings, no ropes, no shackles, just friendly company. Have I got it right?’

Snowy laughed with her. ‘That’s it exactly,’ he assured her. ‘No strings, no ties, no handcuffs, no nothing, just a nice meal and maybe a turn or two around the dance floor. Let’s go!’

Chapter Twelve

IT WAS THE evening before Tess was due to leave for Bell Farm. She had bought her train ticket, packed her haversack, got out her working overalls and stuffed her best dress into her case. Then she poured lemonade into a bottle, made a packet of sandwiches in greaseproof paper and chose a couple of apples. She thanked everyone who was helping out, kissed Albert and Gran and went to bed early, for she would have to be at Lime Street station at seven o’clock in the morning to set out on the first leg of her long journey.

As she set the alarm for six and climbed between the sheets, she reflected that she would not be surprised if, when she returned, it was to find that Gran and Albert had come to an understanding, if not actually got engaged. The thought gave her a little stab of pain. Rejection – was it going to happen to her all over again? Memories of those first unsuccessful attempts to find a foster-home for her could never be entirely forgotten, nor her own mother’s indifference to her plight. Yet there could be no doubt that marrying was the right thing for Gran and Albert. Gran managed beautifully now despite her injuries, but Albert would positively love spoiling her, seeing that she got the best of everything. And in her heart, Tess knew that it was she who was standing in the way of their happiness. Not deliberately, not out of selfishness, but because she was so afraid of being once more on the outside, looking in. It would all be different once Snowy was home, of course. She did not know whether he would ask her again to get engaged or whether they would simply marry, but she was pretty sure it would be one or the other. As the time for his release from the army drew near, Snowy’s letters had become more and more affectionate. He talked freely of the life he was leading, the ten-man patrols which penetrated deep into the jungle seeking the enemy. From reports she read in the newspapers, Tess knew that this so-called ‘emergency’ was a very real war, and a bloody and beastly one at that. There had been a photograph in the Daily Mail of a grinning national serviceman holding up the severed head of a bandit, which had roused horror in everyone who saw it and had resulted in an order that the men must, in future, bring the whole body of a dead enemy back to base camp to prove a ‘kill’.