She blushed and quickly emerged from behind the sheets, trying to give the impression that she had intended to walk towards them all along, not to skulk and spy. ‘You’re rather a big help, Timmy,’ she commented. It was true; she was not simply trying to be charming.

‘Howard taught me to do it right. How to hand the tools. This is a screw, this is a nail. You shouldn’t get them mixed up. People do,’ Timmy stuttered, slowly, falteringly. His expression was one of intense absorption and pride.

‘He could do with a job. A man needs employment,’ commented Howard. Vivian didn’t think of Timmy Durham as a man, although he was.

‘I can’t employ every Tom, Dick and Harry,’ she snapped, because somehow she resented him noticing something she should have already noticed for herself; she’d been here far longer than Howard Henderson. ‘What would he do?’ she asked with a little more patience.

Howard stared at her, square shoulders. He didn’t answer her question. He had the sort of face that could heat up and swell with passion but then collapse and be cold, empty. It was like a kaleidoscope. Whichever way he was arranged, he was always magnificent. Every angle, every curve. His teeth, his eyes, his lashes.

She sighed. ‘I suppose he could help you around the place. An extra pair of hands never goes amiss. Would you like a job, Timmy?’

‘Oh yes please, Mrs Owens. My mammy would be so proud of me.’

‘I can’t pay you much,’ she warned. He beamed as though she’d said the opposite. So did Howard Henderson. It was a loose, warm smile and it made something go slack deep in her belly. A bubble of tension seemed to grow between them. She needed to say or do something to pop it.

‘Are you settling? Are you happy here?’ She shouldn’t have asked whether he was happy. It was too much. Too intimate. Why should she care whether a conchie was happy or not? Yet. She tried to defuse her comment and started to blather. ‘When I arrived, I thought the countryside was so flat and dull. I knew nothing about it but I thought there was nothing to know. Then one day there was this deer. It burst out of nowhere right in front of my eyes. It was so delicate yet at the same time sturdy. Do you know what I mean? Graceful but out of control. It seemed almost human. It interested me. I began to look about. Then later I’d notice a hare sitting up in the grass, a pheasant taking flight. The horizon is always moving.’ She stopped. She realised she was gabbling. Deep breath. Finally, ‘It suddenly didn’t seem as bad as I’d first thought. I like it here now. After a fashion. I expect you’ll get used to it too.’

He smiled. ‘You forget I was born and bred here.’

‘Yes, I do forget that. But you left.’

He grinned. ‘That’s true enough. I did. Lure of London lights and all that.’