But his companion shook her head. ‘I shan’t, because Tess herself has found a way round it, though she hasn’t realised it yet. She has a friend called Lucy who lives on Mere Lane. They walk to and from school together, and one day Lucy came in early, whilst I was still making Tess’s butties. They went into the front room because I had the wireless playing and they wanted to check their French homework, and I heard them talking. They were laughing about how women hate to reveal their age and Tess told Lucy that even her gran kept her age a secret though she simply had to be in her mid-forties at least. I heard Lucy say, “Your gran’s ever so young-looking. In fact, apart from her white hair, you’d be surprised to find that she was forty, let alone fifty-five.” So now Tess has got it fixed in her head that I’m fifty-five, and I’m not saying anything!’

Albert made a dignified little bow. ‘Lucy was right,’ he said. ‘Ah, here comes the waitress. Shall I say tomato soup, ham salad and ice cream for two?’

On the way home in the coach Albert reflected that he felt as though he had known Mrs Williams for years. They planned to book a coach trip to Llandudno for the following week and would meet up beforehand to be sure of sitting together. By now Albert felt it was only sensible to suggest they should use each other’s Christian names, though his companion said that she would prefer it if he called her Edie.

‘And don’t forget I’m fifty-five and need a hand going up and down steps,’ she said, gaily, as they stood on the pavement outside Albert’s shop. ‘I suppose you’re right and one of these days I may have to tell Tess the truth, but that day hasn’t come yet. She’s a dear girl and sets enormous store by the fact that we are a family. Her mother – well, let’s say she wasn’t the maternal type, and I suspect she was often made to feel like an outsider on the farm too, though I’m sure the Bells didn’t mean to do so. To tell you the truth I think the invitation to visit them again has been a revelation to Tess. I know she’s only been there a week but she’s working all out and having to visit friends in the village at the end of a very hard day. I’m certain she’s valued, but perhaps not in quite the way she would like, so I’m sure she’ll come back to us very well content with her life here. Though of course she’ll never quite forget her happy days on the farm and her friendship with this boy Jonty, and I wouldn’t want her to.’

‘Good, good,’ Albert said absently. He was thinking how nice it was to spend time with an intelligent woman who shared many of his own interests. They had discussed the possibility of his setting up an ice cream parlour in various locations, but had decided in the end that he had been right to aim for a property on Heyworth Street. There was little bomb damage here, and because of her work in Deering’s Edie Williams knew a great deal about catering. She agreed with him that water and electricity supplies were essential and pointed out that premises which had been used for food preparation were the sort he should be looking for.