Snowy seized her suitcase, smiling broadly. ‘All right, all right, so it was the wrong question; I should have said where have you been. Come to think, I’ve not seen you around since the school holidays started.’ He peered at her. ‘Go on, where have you been?’

‘To Norfolk, to the farm I lived on during the war.’ Tess picked up the holdall. ‘Are you going in my direction? If so, I’d be grateful if you’d give me a hand.’

Snowy frowned, pretending to consider. ‘Well, last time I got you out of trouble you didn’t even ask me up to your place for a drink of water,’ he pointed out. ‘So I’ll carry your case, ma’am, if you’ll ask me in when we reach Heyworth Street.’

Tess also pretended to consider, then nodded, and they set off. On Lime Street, Snowy jerked a thumb at the queue for taxis and the even longer queue for a tram. ‘Which?’ he asked. ‘Are you goin’ to ride like a lady or join the scrum aboard a number thirty-one?’

Tess had not even considered the question since she had spent many hours wedged into stuffy compartments simply longing for a breath of fresh air, so she shook her head. ‘Neither. Will you think I’m taking advantage if I say I’d rather walk? Only I’ve been shut up in frowsty trains since early this morning . . .’

‘Suits me,’ Snowy said briefly. ‘Come on, then, best foot forward. Can you manage that holdall or shall I take that as well as the suitcase?’

Tess shook her head as they set off at a brisk pace. ‘No, I can manage it easily,’ she assured him. ‘Incidentally, what were you doing on the station? It’s pretty plain you weren’t meeting me because I wasn’t able to tell anyone what time my train would arrive. It depended on when Mr Bell’s car managed to get us to Norwich Thorpe. Did you have a fearful hailstorm about three days ago? We did, and the Bells’ car took a rare beating. One of the hailstones made a huge dent in the bonnet.’

Snowy gave a disbelieving snort. ‘Dented the bonnet?’ he said incredulously. ‘They must have cars made of paper in Norfolk. Pull the other one, kid; it’s got bells on.’

‘Aha, then it was just a freak hailstorm, and not countrywide,’ Tess said wisely. ‘But I can prove that I’m speaking the truth when we get back to the flat because I cut out a piece about it from the Eastern Evening News. Not that I care whether you believe me or not,’ she finished.

Snowy flung up his free hand in a gesture of submission. ‘Sorry, sorry,’ he said. ‘But I’ve not told you what I was doing on the station. I was seeing off a cousin of mine who came to stay for a couple of days. She’s a rare clever girl and has got a scholarship to a private school somewhere in North Wales. She came over here to get her school uniform . . .’