‘Oh, Frank,’ she breathed, close to tears. ‘I never realised how eloquent you could be.’ She looked up at him and smiled affectionately. ‘You’re very much your father’s son, which is probably why I regard you so highly. But if we stand out here for much longer, I’ll freeze to death,’ she added, to take the solemnity out of the moment.

Frank grinned and led the way to the front door. ‘Perhaps if you wore that mink instead of carrying it over your arm, you’d get the benefit of it,’ he teased. ‘Come away in and warm up with a tot of the brandy I’ve been keeping for a special occasion. It’s a fitting drink to wish you well, and raise a toast to the boys out there.’

18

Ron had left the house early because he wanted to get up to the Memorial to see Danuta before he had to return to the Anchor to telephone in the order to the brewery before nine.

He knew he would be pushed for time, so was setting a fast pace when he suddenly heard a plaintive mewling and realised that Queenie had chosen today of all days to follow him up here. Stifling his irritation, he stopped and looked back.

The cat was several hundred yards away, yowling pathetically as Harvey nudged her encouragingly with his nose, to no avail.

Ron grunted as Harvey ran up to him and then raced back to Queenie. ‘Lord preserve me from blasted animals,’ he grumbled, stomping back down the hill. ‘They eat you out of house and home, the cat thinks she’s a dog, the dog thinks he’s human – and neither of them listen to a ruddy word I say.’

Queenie had put on a fair bit of weight since the previous summer, and it was becoming a strain on her three working legs to walk very far, so when she struggled heroically to get to Ron, his irritation with her fled.

‘Ach, ye daft wee thing,’ he crooned, scooping her up and letting her snuggle against him for a while so she could get her breath back. Her little heart was pounding, her ears lay flat against her head as she panted, and her claws dug into his neck as yet another squadron of planes hammered overhead.

He tried to soothe her by stroking her fur, but she was as tense as steel, and he was worried that if one more thing spooked her, she’d be off and he’d never find her. ‘To be sure me pocket is the best place for you,’ he murmured, gently unhooking her claws and tucking her away into the deepest recess of his poaching coat.

He felt her squirming against his thigh before she finally settled down, and once he was sure she felt safe, he resumed the long walk to the hospital at a rapid pace.