‘I think on this one occasion it would be fine,’ said Tom. ‘Don’t take owt in bud, though.’

Ellen decided that she’d like some company on her visit to Great Grindle, a walk of about two miles if she cut across the fields. She went to see if her friend Sally Mason was available and willing to accompany her. It was half-day closing at the village shop in Little Grindle, so Sally might well be at home by now.

Moments after Ellen had knocked on the cottage door, Sally opened it, and the noise of a young and lively family burst out to greet Ellen.

‘Nellie! Them flowers for me?’

‘Go on with you. They’re for Mr Shepherd. I thought I’d go and see how he is now he’s retired with his hip from the mobile library. D’you want to come too? He lives in Great Grindle. I thought I’d walk but get the bus back if it comes on to rain.’

‘I’d love to. You can tell me all your news while we go. Come in while I finish giving our Polly her dinner and get my shoes on.’

Ellen followed Sally inside to a chaos of infants, their half-eaten food, and their toys and clothes strewn around. One of the babies was bashing his dish with the end of his spoon while the other was singing raucously and tunelessly to himself. Polly, meanwhile, was telling off her teddy, with whom she shared her high chair, in a loud and bossy fashion.

‘Mum, it’s Nell. We’re off to see Mr Shepherd, if that’s all right?’

‘Hello, Nell. All right, love? Aye, you go, Sal. Just spoon the rest of that down Polly and I’ll see to the little ’uns. Give him my regards, won’t you?’

Audrey Mason’s twin babies were about a year old, and Polly was not yet three. Sally and her elder brother, Roger, were the children of her first marriage. Audrey’s first husband had been in the navy and had been killed in the war, leaving her struggling, but then she had married Mr Mason, who had adopted Sally and Roger as his own children and given his adored and adoring new wife three more. Sally and Roger loved their new father and were overjoyed to see their mother happy at last.

Ellen always felt a little pang of regret about her own home life when she observed her friend’s. The Arnolds had been married for years and should have been equally happy, in her view, but she felt her father’s violent temper and bleak outlook on life had sucked the joy out of their lives. Truth be told, she preferred it at home when her father wasn’t there.

‘There you go, Poll. Last spoonful, big wide gob … and all done.’