‘Right. I’ll do that at lunchtime,’ Tess said briefly, having already decided that she would come back before six o’clock, do any small jobs that were needed and then go off out again, pretending that a friend had asked her for a meal. She still felt miffed and asked herself why she should share her supper with Mr Payne on her very first full day home, though she knew she was being unreasonable. However, she would have gone off without a word had Gran not stopped her in her tracks. ‘Hold on a minute, Tess,’ she said as the girl began to descend the stair ahead of her. ‘Why don’t you ask Snowy or Lucy if they’d like to come for supper? Then we might have a hand or two of cards when the meal’s over, a foursome being easier than a threesome.’

‘Well, I don’t know . . .’ Tess began uneasily. She felt that the wind had been taken out of her sails and suddenly suspected that Gran had guessed she meant to invent another invitation. She felt quite ashamed of herself, because it was a mean thing to do.

‘Of course, you can’t know whether your friends have already made other plans,’ Gran said when Tess did not finish her sentence. ‘But if you’d like to pop into the bakery at around twelve-thirty you can tell me what you’ve arranged. Mr Deering’s very good, so if either Snowy or Lucy will be coming for supper I’ll buy a couple of Cornish pasties – staff rates, you know – and you can scrub a few more potatoes and we can have quite a little party.’

By now they had reached the end of the stair and were standing on the pavement, and Gran slipped an arm through Tess’s and gave it a little shake. ‘Don’t worry yourself over me and Albert Payne,’ she said gently. ‘You and I are family, but even family have pals that they like to spend time with.’ She let go of Tess’s arm as a large man with startling ginger hair standing up in spikes all over his round head crossed the road and grinned at the two women.

‘Well, if it ain’t Mrs Williams! And this must be the granddaughter we’ve heard so much about.’ He held out a huge hand, the fingers like sausages. ‘How-de-do, young lady? I’m Jacob Jones, chief baker at Deering’s, and your gran’s me best worker.’ They shook hands and then Jacob Jones and Gran crossed the road and disappeared into the baker’s shop, Gran looking over her shoulder as she did so.

‘Cheeribye, Tess,’ she shouted. ‘Don’t forget the washing up!’

Tess stood where she was for a moment, staring at the closing door of the bakery. Should she return to the flat and do the washing up right away? But no, that would be a waste of energy, since she would be returning to the flat for her sandwich lunch. She had pushed the list of messages into her jacket pocket, but now she got it out and scrutinised it, giving a rueful little smile as she did so. Gran mustn’t have done any shopping at all during her three-week absence, she thought, because judging from the shopping list it seemed the pantry at home must be pretty well empty. It would certainly take Tess most of the morning, and since she had no idea where Snowy lived she had best call on Lucy and see if her friend was free, first to accompany Tess round the shops, and second to come to supper at the flat.