‘Aye, an’ look what’s happened,’ her grandmother would fling back. ‘Dun’t want to know us now, does she?’ Her grandmother, too, was little changed: still slim and lithe, a few more grey hairs and another line or two on her face which, she assured Ella, were put there by all the worry the girl caused her.

To her grandmother’s bitterness about Lilian, even Ella had no reply for the fact was that Esther’s younger daughter was a shadowy, distant figure, who had virtually cut herself off from her family.

Ella would sigh and shake her head. ‘I don’t think you can blame her going to university for that, Gran.’ But her grandmother would carry on muttering dark threats about ‘folks getting above theirsens and despising their upbringing’.

It was fortunate for Ella that she was a tough, healthy child, for with the extra homework in preparation for examinations and yet still expected to help on the farm, by the end of the term, even she felt exhausted.

A glowing school report at the end of the autumn term emboldened Ella to ask once more, ‘Can I go to Lincoln to see Aunty Peg? After we break up from school?’

She still longed to be in the city again, especially just before Christmas to see all the shops decorated, hear carols sung and get caught up in the excitement of it all. So many of her childhood memories were becoming hazy, she was afraid she would lose them altogether.

‘Ya see Peggy when she comes here,’ Esther argued.

‘Let her go for a night or so, Esther,’ Jonathan said, winking across at Ella from behind his newspaper. ‘Peg would love to see her.’

‘But Peg’s at work all day. I dun’t like her wandering the streets on her own . . .’

‘Gran, I’m almost sixteen . . .’ She paused and then her blue eyes sparkled. ‘How about if I ask Janice to come too? She’d love a trip to the city. I think she’d be able to get time off work. They’re not very busy this time of year.’

Janice had left school the previous summer to work in a café in Lynthorpe.

Esther looked from one to another. ‘Oh, I see, ganging up on me, are ya?’

Jonathan smiled gently. ‘Come on, love. Let the lass have a bit of fun.’

Esther’s glance was going from one to the other as if she were considering. Slowly, she said, ‘All right, then. Ya can go, but there’s one condition.’

Ella’s eyes widened in delighted surprise. ‘What?’

Then, suddenly, Esther smiled. ‘Bring me a present. I dun’t often get a present from the big city.’ She put her head on one side, considering, and said slowly, ‘D’ya know, never in me whole life have I spent a penny on something that wasn’t useful or – or sensible.’