Politics had never been of much interest to Martin, but he suspected Anne was backing the winning side. The Conservatives were still riding high on Churchill’s reputation, and leading the polls by a vast margin despite Labour’s promises of a radical departure from the past with a comprehensive social security system, a free national health service and the nationalisation of major industries. To Martin’s mind it was all pie in the sky, for the country was almost bankrupt after the war and such ideas would cost millions.

He drained his beer, chased it up with the rest of the whisky and went back to the bar to get the same, but with a double whisky this time. He was set for the rest of the day until it was still just light enough to find his way back to the farm, for the landlord didn’t believe in closing his pub as long as he had at least one customer in it.

Peggy was determined to enjoy the sunshine of that late June Saturday as she sat in a deckchair on the promenade to watch Daisy making sandcastles with another little girl of similar age. The tide was out, the sea as calm as a mill pond, and even the gulls seemed to be enjoying the warm thermals as they hovered almost lazily overhead.

However, Peggy found she couldn’t dismiss her worries entirely for they kept nagging at her. Cissy had telephoned shortly after arriving in London and seemed to be having such a thrilling time with her smart friends that she hadn’t bothered since, and Peggy wondered if she would ever come home again. And then there was her sister Anne who really was a cause for concern.

Peggy had managed to have several unsatisfying conversations with Anne over the past few weeks, and although her daughter insisted everything was all right down in Somerset, Peggy had a suspicion she was keeping back more than she was saying. She knew only too well from her visits to Briar Cottage that Roger was still haunting the airfield and drinking himself into oblivion at the Officers’ Club, and unless Martin was made of stone, she suspected it was the same story with him.

Peggy’s worries over Anne were more serious than the ones she had over Fran, but that didn’t make them less vexing. The fact that Fran had replied only very briefly to her letter and told her nothing about her trip to Ireland was proof to Peggy that the girl had had a rough time of it. She wished she would write again and tell her what had happened, but then she was probably busy settling into the London apartment and her new life with Robert, and needed time to come to terms with things.