Albert immediately felt deeply remorseful. How could he have said such cruel things to the child he and Louisa had so adored! It was not her fault that she had failed to notice when the ice cream parlour idea had become the pet shop scheme. And she had come all this way, travelling right across America and taking a berth aboard a ship bound for Liverpool, all under the mistaken impression that when she got to England she would find a nice little business which with the benefit of her undoubted expertise would become a nice big business. Janine had never liked animals, so the Payne family had never owned so much as a white mouse. She would be useless in the pet shop and in any event, as he had taken pains to point out, the shop had nothing to do with him. But when he went round to her side of the table and tried to stroke her hair, to tell her how sorry he was, she pushed him away.

‘Well, I’m damned if I’m going back to the States,’ she mumbled, knuckling her tear-wet eyes. She sniffed, produced a handkerchief from her skirt pocket and blew her nose resoundingly.

For a moment there was silence in the small kitchen. Janine was gazing into space. Albert returned to his own chair and took her cold hands in his warm ones. ‘Did you seek legal advice regarding ownership of the soda fountain?’ he asked gently. ‘Surely you have some rights?’

‘I tried, and got nowhere. There was no proof, you see, no contract, nothing. And when I wanted to go back in after my visit to the lawyer I was forbidden admittance, and when I tried to get into our apartment upstairs Father-in-law had changed the locks. I was pretty desperate, so when Mario advised me to come back to England and gave me the money for my fare it seemed the only thing left to do. I got one of the staff from the soda fountain to steal the keys from the manager they had put in my place and she, dear little girl, packed a suitcase with all my clothing and found out where to catch a train to New York.’ She had been gazing into the middle distance but now her eyes focused on her father’s face. ‘Of course I tried to persuade various members of the Da Silva family to help me, but nobody would. Mr Da Silva is very much the big man of the neighbourhood; nobody would willingly go against him. Even Mario is afraid of him. So in the end I took Mario’s advice and left. There were things in our apartment which belonged to me so Mario gave me what he thought was their value in cash, and saw me on to the train for New York. And that’s all there was to it, Dad. Mario said the tobacconist shop was my inheritance as well as the ice cream parlour, but since there’s no ice cream parlour I suppose I’ll have to housekeep for you like my mam did. I might be able to find a little job, I suppose . . . but now you’ve got me back, Dad, you won’t need that Edie woman. I know you say you’re not in partnership with her, but judging from your letters – which I do read – you spend a lot of time together.’ She sniffed and pushed her handkerchief back into her pocket. ‘What do you think Mam would say if she knew you were seeing another woman? It’s not right, Dad! I suppose you’ve been spending time with this Edie because you’re lonely. Well, you won’t be lonely any more, because I mean to take up my old life where it left off. I’ve probably still got friends around here and I can learn the tobacconist trade so that when you retire I can take over. It’s what Mam would like, after all, and this woman, this Mrs Williams, can concentrate on her pet shop.’