Glenys was only too glad to agree and was surprised when Sam pulled her to a halt in order to shake her hand. ‘Pax!’ he said. ‘And now I shall tell you how I knew you were on your way to Weathercock Farm? It’s a pretty complicated story so listen hard.’

Glenys giggled. ‘It can’t be as complicated as ours,’ she assured him. ‘There was scarcely anyone in Liverpool who didn’t either help or hinder us. Carry on, then!’

‘Well, when Harry Theaker told me he’d left the children at the Salvation Hall, I went straight there and spoke to Major Williams, who seems to have been especially kind to Mo. He told me that the children had made friends with another Salvationist, Frank Bloggs, and took me to meet him that very evening. Frank, of course, knew all about you setting off for Wales with the children, and said you were going to let him know how you were getting on, so I stayed in Liverpool for a couple more days to see if there would be any news. But you didn’t ring, so I decided to swallow my pride and come down to see whether I couldn’t make my peace with Grace’s parents and wait for you here.’

‘And of course, being the lovely couple they are, they welcomed you with open arms,’ Glenys said, smiling.

‘Well, not quite that, but I think they are starting to forgive me,’ Sam said. ‘And then you rang Frank, so he contacted me and told me you were going to Deniol, but he’d looked at the timetable and was pretty sure I’d be able to meet you at Llanerch – the puppy station! – but of course we didn’t know about the two-hour delay. I’d almost given up when I saw Mo . . . and the rest you know. I returned to Weathercock Farm to wait, because I was certain, now, that you would turn up there.’

Glenys had begun to say that he had been proved right when he gave an exclamation. ‘How far would you say we’ve walked? Only it’s been some while since I saw the moon, and those dark racing clouds look pretty sinister. Surely we should have reached the outskirts of Ruthin by now?’

Glenys looked round her, but before she could reply the wind snatched the words from her lips and it began to snow in earnest. In two minutes what had been a calm night was calm no longer. A vicious wind whipped the surface of the snow and before either of them could remark upon it, they found themselves in the heart of a blizzard. Snow was coming at them horizontally and within moments they both looked like snowmen, and the intense cold made Glenys accept without question the arm Sam slung around her waist. ‘Hang on to me,’ he shouted, for the noise of the storm was so great that even the strongest voice had to be raised. ‘Did you recognise where we were before the blizzard struck?’