Jack laughed and Verity thought her father would be horrified at the crude sound of it, shattering the usual hush of the house, but instead he let out a bark, which turned into a cough.

‘Father, Jack has been helping me with the herd. He’s a fine herder, you know – he was brought up on a ranch.’

‘A ranch? Cattle man, are you? Dairy or stock?’

Verity thought Jack twitched slightly. There was a small hesitation before he said, ‘Both.’

‘You sound American. Well, at least you’re making yourself useful here. Unlike the rest of your lot. Don’t know why you still need to be here. War’s over, after all.’

‘Father…’ said Peter, hopping about.

‘It’s all right, Peter,’ their father waved a hand at him, ‘I shan’t go on.’

‘Mr Frost, you may have a point there. I don’t suppose we’ll be here for much longer. But there is a war, sir. It’s just playing out a little differently. You know, I sure have been surprised by the welcome I’ve received. You have a beautiful country.’

Father grunted again but Verity saw how his back seemed to straighten.

What had Arthur said to her? The planes they had were bombers. She remembered the Pathé footage she’d seen showing the mushroom clouds somewhere in Australia, and the voiceover man pronouncing, ‘It seems that by the possession of such deadly weapons, peace can be maintained in this troubled world.’ That was a twisted way of looking at it.

‘I was just going to get Jack a drink, Father, can we…’

‘Yes, yes,’ her father said, ‘go ahead. You youngsters will drink a man dry.’ He waved them into the front room. ‘Mrs Timms, fetch Verity.’

Before Verity could scuttle back to her room, Jack lifted his eyes to the banisters. Although surely he couldn’t possibly know that she was there, he smiled in the direction of the landing where she was crouching in the shadows as if he could sense her watching him. Quickly, she jerked back and tiptoed to her room.

Her mind was all over the place. She had taken something of a dislike to the American and his secret war but for some reason she had the stupid thought that he was here to see her. It was important, she decided, to let him understand that not only was she not interested in his advances if that’s what they were, but that they were actually rather unwelcome.