‘Even so he had it coming to him,’ Taid remarked. ‘Now let’s forget Pete and get breakfast over and our chores done so we can come in and listen to the wireless with a clear conscience. Kids, you’re on egg collecting today, and mind you bring back a good basketful; Sam and I did the milking and now I shall have to load the churns on to the trailer and take it down to the main road because the milk lorry waits for no man. Glenys will want to get the housework done and a cold lunch prepared for later. Sam’ll check the flock and Nain can put her feet up.’ He held out a hand to Glenys. ‘Pete didn’t upset you?’ he asked in a low tone. ‘I knew he’d taken a flagon of cider but I never thought he’d drink most of it in one go, and at this time in the morning too.’

Sam walked over to where Glenys had begun to wash up the breakfast things and put a hand against her neck, beneath the tumble of fair curls. ‘Don’t let it worry you,’ he said gently. ‘It isn’t often that Pete has a flagon of cider all to himself, and it clearly went to his head. By tomorrow he’ll have forgotten every word you uttered, and besides he’s in considerable awe of Taid. After all, Taid could sack him at any time and kick him out of his cottage; he won’t forget that.’

Glenys twisted round to look up into his face. ‘But I’m not his employer; he can be as rude to me as he likes and I’ll still have to feed him,’ she observed. She smothered a laugh. ‘But at least he won’t be coming into the house again. I don’t mind feeding him if I can do it at a distance.’

Presently the men and the children left to carry out their chores and Glenys began to clean lettuce, spring onions and radishes. Nain, sitting at the kitchen table slicing cucumber, looked keenly into Glenys’s troubled face.

‘I don’t doubt you spoke without thinking, but who can blame you?’ she asked reasonably. ‘Pete’s got a nasty tongue on him and a bad reputation amongst the village girls; that’s what you dislike, isn’t it?’ She had pulled the kettle over the fire earlier and now she got to her feet and made two cups of tea, pushing one across to the younger woman and raising her eyebrows. ‘That’s right, isn’t it?’ she repeated. ‘You don’t like the way Pete leers, and some of the remarks he makes are not suitable for Jimmy’s ears, let alone Mo’s.’

‘I know,’ Glenys said. ‘But don’t worry, Nain. I can put up with him provided he doesn’t come indoors.’

Promptly at eleven o’clock Nain turned the wireless on, and the tenants joined the family in the kitchen. Pete came with them, for the first time since Glenys had met him wearing clothing which could not have stood up by itself. His face was pink instead of mud-coloured and his nails were not black-rimmed. He sidled in last, casting Glenys a look of mingled triumph and hatred, and she guessed that the cleaning up process had been as unwelcome as it was thorough. She would never have known what had happened when Pete went back to his cottage, had not Jimmy, having delivered Taid’s message to the tenants, seen Pete draw a bucket of water from the well. The little man had then knocked on the O’Connells’ door, and after he had had a brief chat with Liam O’Connell both men had disappeared into Pete’s cottage. Jimmy had not been able to resist creeping round the back and thus had heard every word of the story which Pete had told his neighbour, though he toned down the language slightly when he repeated it to Glenys.