He pulled a face and shrugged. ‘Ya can ask her, but whether she’ll tell you owt, now that’s another matter. And I should tread very carefully, if I was you. She gets very agitated if you ask questions. I was asking her about me grandad once. I was only interested ’cos I’m called after him. He was Robert Eland an’ all.’

‘He was killed in the pub at the Point, wasn’t he, when the bomb dropped on it?’

He nodded. ‘Yeah, but when I said, “Tell me about me grandad”, d’you know, she started crying and I had to leave off.’

‘Perhaps it still upsets her to think about him,’ Ella suggested. ‘Anyway, I’ll be careful what I say.’

Grandma Eland was sitting in an easy chair in the living room, dozing in front of a blazing fire. Her large bulk filled the chair, her head lolling against the back. Her mouth was open and her upper false teeth had dropped and were slightly askew in her mouth. She was snoring very gently.

Ella stood uncertainly in the room, debating whether to tiptoe out again without disturbing her. Perhaps, if she waited a few moments, Grandma Eland would wake up. Ella sat down in the chair on the opposite side of the fire, but the heat soon became too much against her cheek and she moved away to the other side of the room and leant against the sideboard.