Roz immediately went to grab her case, but no sooner had the guard shut the door behind Felix than the train jerked into motion. For a brief moment she contemplated jumping off the train before it gained momentum, but Felix must have pre-empted her thoughts because as she looked out of the window, he was gazing back at her, slowly shaking his head. Nodding her understanding, she slumped into her seat and placed her hands over her eyes, then let the tears flow freely.

Back at the farm, Bernie climbed out of the taxi and called out to Adele who was crossing the yard. ‘Where’s Suzie?’

Adele pointed to the milking shed. ‘She’s washing down. Is everything alright?’

Without bothering to answer, Bernie strode to the shed, where he found Joyce on the hose whilst Suzie brushed the slurry down the drain. ‘You evil little bitch,’ he said, pointing an accusing finger at Suzie.

Flabbergasted as to what had made Bernie, usually a mild-mannered soul, speak in such a fashion, Joyce stared at him. ‘What on earth’s happened, Bernie?’ She looked at Suzie, who was feigning innocence, but only a fool would have believed she didn’t know exactly what Bernie was talking about. ‘Suzie?’

‘Don’t give me that!’ snapped Bernie. ‘You’re as bad as your daughter, if not worse. I know all about your little plan for Roz to woo me just so that I would teach Suzie.’ His jaw flinching angrily, he turned his attention back to Suzie. ‘You could’ve just told me – there was no need to humiliate me in front of a station full of people.’

Joyce’s hand flew to her mouth and she stared pleadingly at her daughter to tell her it wasn’t so, then spoke thickly through her fingers. ‘You didn’t?’

Ignoring her mother, Suzie turned to Bernie. ‘And you’d have believed me? Besides, don’t you think Felix deserved to know the truth?’

‘Not like that!’ growled Bernie. ‘He’s in the same position as me – we’re the innocents in all this – not that that bothered you! All you thought about is your damned self. Well, I won’t have a backstabber working on my farm. You can take your things and leave.’

Suzie’s eyes widened. ‘You can’t throw me out! It’s your parents who own the farm, and I should think they’d be grateful that I’ve shown Roz’s true colours.’ Tutting with disbelief, she added, ‘If that’s what all the Jews are like, you can kind of see why Hitler …’ She got no further. Joyce, who had been bending over backwards to make amends with her daughter, spoke her piece.