Blushing to the tips of her ears because Felix had overheard her talking about him, Roz hastily changed the conversation.

‘He doesn’t sneak up on me giving me a heart attack either. I thought you were helping Howell with the bull?’

‘As it turns out, if a bull decides he doesn’t want to go somewhere, he doesn’t go, but if he changes his mind, he goes there very quickly indeed!’

Roz’s eyes widened. ‘Oh dear, I hope nobody was standing in his way.’

‘Not for long,’ said Felix, with a half-smile. ‘I can run a lot faster than I thought.’

Mabel shook her head. ‘That bloomin’ beast’s the only thing on this farm that scares me.’

Felix pushed his hands into his pockets. ‘He certainly is a big feller, but I don’t think he means any real harm – just a tad short-tempered is all, but at least you won’t have to deal with him now we’ve moved him.’

Roz pouted. ‘I can’t believe you’re leaving tomorrow!’

He placed his arm around her shoulders. ‘Time certainly does fly when you’re having fun. It seems like I’ve hardly been here any time at all!’

‘It’s so unfair that you have to join the army,’ said Roz, her tone petulant. ‘You weren’t the one in the wrong, they were.’

‘Saving face,’ said Felix mildly. ‘They know they did the wrong thing but don’t want to admit it, and I can’t say as I’m surprised, but look on the bright side – I made it back; not everyone on the Dunera is able to say that.’

Roz glanced at Mabel. ‘Gethin has asked Mabel to go and visit him. Do you think I’ll be allowed to come and visit you when you get your posting?’

He nodded fervently. ‘Of course you can, you can treat it like a holiday.’

She brightened. ‘It will be, won’t it?’

The following morning, it was with a heavy heart that Roz took Felix to the train station. Deciding that she could handle Zeus comfortably on her own, Mabel had suggested Roz might like to go by herself, so that she and Felix could spend some time together.

Even though the snow had stopped falling over the past few days, it still covered the roads, so they had decided their best bet was to take the sledge. As Zeus’s hooves thudded against the thick blanket of snow, Roz recalled the journey which she and Mabel had taken to pick Felix up, and how different she had felt then from how she felt now. Back then, she had been full of excited anticipation, whereas now she was full of nervous trepidation. She didn’t know how long it would be before she saw him again, and she had an underlying fear that something would happen and he would be taken back to Australia, or Canada, or somewhere equally far away. She voiced her fears to Felix, who did his best to reassure her that having already made one such mistake the government would be in no hurry to repeat it.