The sea retreated but came again; a stronger, bigger wave catching her unawares so that she lost her balance and fell backwards into the shallows. Soaked to her skin, Kate scrambled to her feet. Sobbing, the sea-water squelching in her shoes, she began to run.

‘Why, lovey, you’re wet through!’ Beth Eland reached out with gentle hands and pulled Kate into her warm kitchen. ‘Whatever happened? Did ya fall in a creek?’

Kate sniffled and shook her head as she allowed herself to be led towards the rickety wooden chair set before the glowing range. A log settled in the grate sending up a welcoming shower of sparks.

Kate hesitated before she sat down, glancing up at Danny’s mother. As if reading the girl’s thoughts, the woman smiled gently and said, ‘Go on, Mester Eland won’t mind you sitting in his chair this once. Now, off with these wet things.’

Mrs Eland slipped the shawl off her own shoulders and wrapped it round Kate. ‘I’ll rinse ya pinny out and hang it on the line, else that mud’ll stain it. Eh, dearie me, even ya shimmy’s wet through.’

She took Kate’s salt-stained clothes to the deep white sink under the window and worked the handle of the pump. Water splashed into the sink.

‘I dun’t know how I’m to get these dry in time for you to go home, Katie,’ Mrs Eland murmured worriedly, taking an enamel jug from a shelf of pots and pans running along one wall and coming back to the range to ladle hot water from the side boiler.

Kate, her teeth chattering, held out her hands to the log fire, and wriggled her toes into the worn peg rug that covered the hearth. She felt the woman’s anxious glance on her.

‘Eh, ya shivering. I’ll just get these clothes in to steep and I’ll make you some hot milk with a spoon of honey in it.’

Kate nodded and sniffled. She was still unable to speak.

After her drenching in the sea, she had run along the beach. Sobbing and breathless, she had climbed the easterly dunes, crossed the marsh and come to the Point, deliberately avoiding going anywhere near her own home.

Danny, she must find Danny.

Now she lifted her tear-streaked face, her long hair straggling down her cheeks, to look up at his mother. ‘Where’s Danny?’ she asked.

Mrs Eland bent over her as she gave Kate a steaming mug of milk and honey. ‘There now, drink this. It’ll warm ya. Danny? Why, he’s not home from work yet.’

Kate wrapped her cold hands round the mug and sipped the hot liquid. ‘How long will he be?’