Gran turned to greet her, her eyebrows rising. ‘Where have you been, chuck? It’s so late I was about to send out a search party. It doesn’t do to be on the streets after dark, let me tell you, or not by yourself at any rate.’ Her eyes brightened. ‘Don’t tell me you found yourself a job? I do my best, but things aren’t cheap and there’s no denying I’m a poor manager . . .’

‘Oh, Gran, you aren’t a poor manager, you work miracles with the money we’ve got,’ Tess said warmly. ‘And you’re a grand cook, so you are. Tomorrow I’ll try for a job again, only this time I’ll dress up a bit, do you credit.’

‘You’re a grand kid, young Tess, and I mean to make a few extra pennies towards our Christmas dinner myself,’ Gran said mysteriously. ‘But food isn’t important, queen, not really.’ She trotted across to Tess and enveloped her in a huge cuddly hug. ‘We’ve got each other, a roof over our heads and food in our stomachs, even if it isn’t turkey and plum pudding. That’s enough for me. But you still haven’t told me where you’ve been all day.’

‘Well, I didn’t get a job, but like St Paul on the road to Damascus, I fell among thieves,’ Tess admitted, and began to tell Gran the whole story, only leaving out that she had been proffering the ten-shilling note as payment for a glass angel, since she still hoped to be able to buy something similar before Christmas Day dawned. The stallholders on Paddy’s Market were famous for their bargains; maybe she would find an angel as pretty as the first.

Gran listened and was a most appreciative audience, gasping, laughing and exclaiming, though she told Tess severely that she really must remember that what one might do in a Norfolk village was best avoided in a big city. ‘I know you told me Mrs Bell said she never locked her doors, and that the young lads left their bicycles on the village green or leaning against their houses, but if you did that in Liverpool you’d soon regret it,’ she said. ‘I dare say there’s pickpockets and thieves in most big cities, but it just ain’t worth their while to try it on in villages and such. Haven’t I told you to push your purse well down in your pocket or keep it up your knicker leg at this time of year? If I’d known about that ten-bob note I’d have come with you.’ She had heaved a deep sigh, looking at Tess with anxious blue eyes. ‘There must be someone in your class who would go around with you. You say that Marilyn doesn’t like you and the rest of them follow her lead, but there must be someone who’s got a bit more sense.’

‘I’ll find someone, only it seems it’s going to take time,’ Tess said regretfully. ‘Oh, when I think of the farm and the village kids . . . well, I had plenty of friends there, so why should I find it so difficult now?’