Satisfied that he would be doing the right thing, Snowy continued on his way down Heyworth Street.

Chapter Three

BY THE TIME summer came, Albert Payne and young Tess were good friends. At first she had only popped into his shop for a quick exchange of news once a week or so, and these visits had been ruled by customers; if he was serving someone she would wait quietly by the counter until the customer had gone, and then tell him how her life was going, but would make her farewells as soon as another customer loomed.

The more Albert saw of her the more he liked her. And when she came into the shop at the start of the summer holidays he was delighted. ‘Good morning, young lady. How can I help you?’ he asked jokingly. ‘Now that you’re out of school for six or eight weeks I suppose you’ll be desperate to find some work so that you’ll have a bit of money to spend.’

‘That’s right,’ Tess said, hurrying round the counter and beginning to help him set out his recent delivery of cigarettes. ‘But not straight away – I shan’t be seeing you for a while, Mr Payne, and I shan’t be getting a job either. Mrs Bell has written asking would I like to go to Norfolk for a few weeks this summer.’

Albert felt a sharp stab of disappointment, but he did his best to hide it in the face of her sparkling eyes and obvious pleasure. ‘Well, that’s fine, I’m sure,’ he said slowly. ‘Before the war I used to close the shop for a week and take Louisa and Janine off down to Rhyl or Prestatyn or Llandudno, somewhere on the coast anyway. We always had a grand time – I don’t suppose the sun really shone every day, but that’s how I remember it – and this year I mean to close the shop and go on day trips by coach. Some of them go all the way to Aberystwyth – that’s a town I really like – so I thought mebbe I’d do that, because it’s cheaper than getting lodgings and I could space the days out, like.’

‘Well, so you can; there’s nothing stopping you,’ Tess said enthusiastically. ‘That would be really nice, Mr Payne, and when we got back we could exchange holiday stories. That would be grand, wouldn’t it?’

‘Yes, grand,’ Albert Payne said faintly. It would not do to admit that he had intended to invite Tess along. Going in a coach by oneself, he thought, would be much less enjoyable than going with a lively, chatty young person like Tess. But of course he could not spoil his little friend’s pleasure by telling her so, so he smiled and changed the subject quickly, asking whether Mrs Williams would go with her to the Bells’ farm.

Tess shook her head. ‘No, not this time, because as you know she’s got a really good job in the bakery and daren’t risk losing it,’ she told him. ‘She’s been there about six months so she could take a few days off, but the journey to Norfolk is very long and tiring and not worth doing just for a couple of days at the farm. So she’s to see me off on the train next Monday and Jonty Bell will meet me at Norwich Thorpe. Oh, I can hardly wait!’ She had been beaming up into Albert’s face but suddenly the happy look disappeared. ‘Oh, Mr Payne, I shall miss you, and I expect you’ll miss me, but I’ve had an idea. Why don’t you ask Gran if she’d like to go with you on the coach, for one of the trips at least? I’m sure you’d get on like a house on fire and I wouldn’t feel so mean about leaving Gran on her own.’