Ignoring her mother’s voice calling her name, Kate ran on, across the lane and up the slope of the sand-dune. Reaching the top she paused a moment, her glance sweeping the flat marshland in front of her. Beyond the marsh was a second line of sand-dunes and then the beach and the sea.

Maybe Danny was on the beach.

She was running again, down the sandy slope and across the marsh, jumping the creeks, bounding over the tufts of grass until she gained the crest of the eastern dunes. Her gaze scanned the wide stretch of sand.

Then she saw him.

Head down, hands thrust into his pockets, he was following the high-water mark, searching for anything left by the ebbing tide.

‘Danny,’ she yelled. ‘Danny!’

He looked up, waved and began to run towards her.

Breathless, she sank down into the sandy hollow that was their own special place. It had been their den, their boat, their desert island, and always, it was the place they met.

Danny took a flying leap into the hollow, landing with a thud and showering her with sand. He sat down beside her and held out his hand. On the flat of his palm sat a huge whelk shell.

‘Just look at that, Kate.’ Gently he blew the remaining grains of sand from the shell. ‘Did ya ever see such a beauty? It’s the biggest I’ve ever found.’

Kate stared at it, but when she made no response, she felt Danny looking at her more closely. ‘What’s up, Katie? You look funny – ya face is all red. You bin crying?’

‘I’ve had a row with me mam.’

‘Oh, heck! What about?’

‘School.’

Danny looked puzzled.

‘She’s sending me to boarding school in Lincoln come September.’

‘Boarding school!’ He gaped at her. ‘Whatever for? I thought ya’d be leaving school, like me.’

‘I can’t leave till I’ve passed me fourteenth birthday. And that’s not till September!’ Kate said moodily.

There was silence between them, then Danny grinned, sudden excitement in his voice. ‘I say, guess what? I saw Squire Marshall yesterday and he’s tekin’ me on from next Monday. What about that then?’

She looked at him, this boy whom she had known all her life. His curly black hair shone in the spring sunlight and although his chin was still boyishly smooth and his voice had not yet broken, he seemed to be changing before her eyes almost. She couldn’t get used to seeing him in long trousers. He wore a pair of proper braces now – men’s braces – but his thin arms stuck out like sticks from the rolled-up sleeves of his open-necked striped shirt. Suddenly, he seemed to be growing up – and growing away from her.