So she just said: ‘Mrs Bell suggested I might stay on for a little longer, but I told her I couldn’t. I’m so sorry, Jonty, but I promised Gran . . .’

Jonty stood up, lifted his galvanised bucket of milk clear of Cowslip’s rear end – she tended to kick out – and came over to Tess. ‘I’m sure she understands that you can’t let your gran down,’ he said tactfully. ‘And I expect she told you you’d be very welcome to come back next year.’ He gave her a wicked little grin, raising one eyebrow as he did so, a trick he had been practising in his bedroom mirror ever since seeing Perry Como doing it on Pathé News. ‘Especially if you were sensible enough not to sprain your wrist in the meantime.’

Chapter Five

TESS ARRIVED AT Lime Street station lugging her suitcase and a large canvas holdall full of good things which Mrs Bell had packed up for her to take home for Gran. ‘We never paid you no wage, my woman, money being a bit on the tight side,’ she had said as she handed over the bulging bag, ‘but I thought as how your gran might be glad of a few eggs and that.’ Tess, scrambling into the front seat of the Morris – the damage had not proved as severe as the Bells had feared – had thanked her hostess whole-heartedly, though she thought that the extra luggage would probably prove a great nuisance.

When they reached the station Tess shook hands with Mr Bell and had prepared to do the same with Jonty, but he shook his head. ‘Dad’s goin’ to the feed merchant and I’m stayin’ with you until you’re aboard your train,’ he said, grinning. ‘You’ll need all the help you can get with carryin’ your bags.’ He lowered his voice. ‘Ma meant it for the best, but by the time you reach Liverpool you’ll be cussin’ the extra weight. And you’ll have to be rare careful ’cos of the eggs.’

‘Oh, Jonty, you needn’t wait,’ Tess protested. ‘How are you going to get home? Or is Mr Bell going to come back for you?’ she added as the farmer drove off.

Jonty raised his brows and seized the holdall. ‘Never heard of buses?’ he asked. ‘I can catch the ten o’clock to the village from here. Or I can have a mooch around the city and get the one that leaves at noon. Whichever I get I’ll have plenty of time to see the last of you.’

And so it had proved and now Tess, struggling with the suitcase and the canvas holdall, looked round hopefully when she heard a voice hail her as she crossed the concourse.

‘Hey, Tess Williams, isn’t it? Where are you off to?’

Tess dumped her suitcase and smiled at the fair-haired boy who had addressed her. ‘Snowy! What do you mean, where am I going? Home, of course.’ She looked hopefully up at him. ‘Going to give me a hand with my luggage? To tell you the truth it’s a perishin’ miracle I’ve managed to get this far without dropping something.’