As the hired van trundled along the country lanes the next day, Mo was describing the contents of their old home to Glenys. ‘Our mam had a little rosewood desk which she used when she wrote her letters and paid bills,’ she said. ‘And there was the most beautiful carpet, pale blue, scattered with pink roses. And a Welsh dresser in the kitchen, and easy chairs in the parlour, the sort with arms and high backs, and of course two of the bedrooms were furnished especially for Jimmy and me; pink for me and blue for Jimmy. Oh, and I forgot, there was a cupboard in the kitchen called a maid saver, and chairs which Mam painted white; they stood round the big kitchen table, and the china on the Welsh dresser was real pretty . . .’ But at this point Sam intervened, laughingly accusing Mo of seeing their old furniture through rose-coloured spectacles, and in a very few minutes they had arrived at the farm.

Sam and Glenys had decided that today they would ignore the bedroom furniture and concentrate on the parlour and the kitchen. A great many of the things on sale for the former needed reupholstering, but the stuff for the kitchen could definitely be moved to the farm cottage along with the beds they had bought the previous day.

‘Starting from scratch is an enormous task, when you think about it,’ Sam said as they chose easy chairs. ‘Grace would have been heartbroken to know that the furniture she once chose so carefully no longer existed.’ He squeezed Glenys’s hand. ‘You two would have loved one another; you’re very alike in many ways,’ he said, unconsciously echoing Nain. He turned to his daughter, who was jumping up and down and clearly trying to get his attention. ‘What do you want, darling?’ he asked, laughing. ‘There’s bound to be a privy somewhere around, if that’s your problem. Just knock at one of the cottages and ask if you can use theirs.’

His daughter shook her head indignantly. ‘No, Dad, it’s not that. I’ve just seen a beautiful dressing table for my room. It’s only two quid and it has two little lamps with pink shades and a big mirror. Oh, do come and see. Auntie Glenys will tell you it’s a bargain if you ask her!’

‘Presently,’ Glenys said as Mo bounced up to her. ‘I thought we’d take a look at some of the clothes stalls. The dress you’re wearing is very pretty, but far too small. And though I’m happy with my ATS slacks and Aertex shirt I wouldn’t say no to a cotton frock.’

But Mo, for once, was more concerned with her bedroom furniture. ‘I’d love a dressing table all of my own. Can’t we look at it first?’

Glenys and Sam agreed, but when they accompanied her to the seller of the bedroom furniture the object of her desire had been sold. ‘You must mean the one from the Rathbone house. I just sold it to a big feller with dark hair; he paid one of the lads a bob to help him carry it. You’d best hurry, ’cos I reckon if you offer him a quid more’n he paid me, he’ll jump at it. He looks the sort what’d do anything for money.’