‘Clever girl. We can’t afford for them to get suspicious. Not that they really care, provided they can shift the goods, but we don’t want anything traced back to us. We’ll go to see Bella on your afternoon off, if you like. Remind me when that is.’

‘Wednesday.’

‘Right, so I’m here until at least then. That’ll give me the chance to earn a bit of credit with the parents, especially Dad, if I can bear to visit the brewery in the meantime – what a yawn – and perhaps I might reacquaint myself with the Duke of Clarence.’

‘Oh, James, why go there and be paid less by another fella, who’ll sell on the stuff himself, when you can sell it directly to Bella?’

‘Well, I’ve tried sticking with Bella, but there’s a limit to what she wants to take – I mean, the kinds of items.’

‘I don’t understand.’

‘She doesn’t take watches, for instance, though there’s a nice little market for some makes of watch.’

A watch was a watch to Gina. She hadn’t really looked at any watch closely except to tell the time.

‘Well, you know best. But I’ll be glad to go to Bella’s on Wednesday. Then we’ll tot up how we’re doing.’ Gina had so far been upfront with him about what she got from the pawnbrokers and she expected James to be straight with her about the items he offloaded.

‘I’ll look forward to it,’ said James, giving her his most charming smile.

‘I have missed you,’ Gina said softly, leaning in to him.

‘And I’ve missed you, too. Where would I be without my clever girl looking after my interests here while I’m up in London?’

‘I wish I was up in London with you.’

‘Well, then you wouldn’t be here looking after my interests, would you, sweetheart? Maybe in the summer. Business picks up at holiday time and we could work together. Let’s see how things are then.’ James laughed lightly and bent to kiss her.

Gina wrapped her arms around him and the kiss became more passionate.

‘Missed you so much,’ she repeated softly as they eventually drew apart.

‘Darling girl. Now, where’s that crazy little dog? Coco, here, boy. Good boy. Why don’t you and Coco go on without me, Gina? I’ve got a couple of things I need to see to before lunch.’

‘Oh, all right.’ Gina felt she had been dismissed, but James wasn’t here for very long and he might well have plenty to do. And she did have the trip to Blackpool to look forward to, even if she wasn’t sure whether or not she liked Bella Bertolli.

After lunch, Diana said she ought to be thinking about getting her train.

‘Gina, please would you give me a hand with my things?’ she asked.

‘Of course.’