‘So what shall we do for Christmas then?’ Holly asked. ‘I thought we might go to a service at the church on the evening of Christmas Eve and seeing as you may get to finish early on Saturday you could perhaps buy us a chicken and some veg to cook for Christmas Day.’

‘Sounds lovely to me,’ Ivy agreed and they made a pact that this Christmas would be as special as they could make it.

Two days later, as Holly was serving a customer in the shop, she heard two of the ladies who were waiting to be served talking about the Red Cross course they were attending, and her ears pricked up, one of her regrets about leaving home was that she had not been able to start the course as she had planned.

‘Excuse me asking, but I couldn’t help overhearing you talking about a Red Cross course,’ she said politely when it was their turn to be served. ‘Is it anywhere around here?’

‘Why yes, dear,’ the plumpest of the women told her with a friendly smile. She was wearing a hat trimmed with peacock feathers that seemed to have a life of their own and Holly could barely take her eyes off them. ‘It’s one evening a week at the University Hospital, I’m sure you would be most welcome if you cared to go along. And now I wonder if you could show me some leather gloves, please. I’m buying them for my daughter.’

‘Yes, of course.’ Holly hurried to the glove drawer and soon the two ladies were pawing indecisively over the selection she had laid out before them on the counter.

‘I think Susan would like this pair, Maude,’ the plump woman’s companion advised her, lifting a fine pair of dove-grey kid gloves. ‘The colour is so pretty, she could wear them to church and for special occasions.’

‘Yes, she could, but then this black pair would so much more practical,’ her friend pondered. Eventually she decided to take both pairs, much to Miss May’s delight.

‘Well done, dear,’ she praised Holly when the women left the shop with the gloves beautifully gift-wrapped. ‘You certainly have a way with the customers and I think you’ll be ready to start using the till when we come back after Christmas. Spending it with your family, are you?’

Holly had avoided talking about her private life and was reluctant to say too much now. ‘No, my family live in the Midlands so I shall be spending it with my friend. She and I share a room.’

‘Oh, I see.’ Miss May looked mildly surprised. She could tell that Holly came from good stock by the way she spoke and carried herself. In actual fact, she had thought it strange that a girl who had clearly been well educated had come seeking shop work in the first place. Of course, she was very pleased that she had. Holly’s manners were impeccable and already she was a great favourite with her regular customers. ‘And where are you living?’