With the arrival of spring, most of her customers came to order new hats and Mrs Breckenridge was among them. May noticed with concern that she looked pale, but she passed it off with an airy, ‘Just a nasty winter cold. I’ll soon be better now the weather is warmer.’ She had made the appointment for late afternoon and, as May was finishing the necessary discussion about style and colour, Julie put her head round the door.

‘Mrs Breckenridge’s son is here.’

May looked up as he came in and felt a sudden tremor of excitement. She put it down to her sense of gratitude to the man who had saved her job; but she could not deny that the sight of his tall figure and golden blond hair had something to do with it.

‘Oh, really, James,’ his mother said, ‘there was no need for you to go out of your way to escort me. I’m quite capable of taking the omnibus on my own, you know.’

‘Of course you are,’ he agreed with a smile, ‘but I finished work a bit early so I thought I would come and collect you.’

‘Mr Breckenridge,’ May said, ‘I just want to thank you for what you did. Your idea saved me from the sack. I can’t tell you how grateful I am.’

He turned to her with the same warm smile. ‘I was very happy to help. I thought you were being very badly treated.’

His mother collected her parasol and her fur tippet. ‘I’m ready now, dear. Shall we go?’

‘Of course.’ He nodded to May. ‘Nice to meet you again.’

May cherished the words. Her customers were always pleasant to her, but they never treated her as an equal. Something about the way James Breckenridge had spoken gave her the feeling that he was seeing her as a person, not just a particularly useful servant.

Other concerns soon banished such thoughts. She was spending more and more time with Armando. On Wednesdays she often went to watch him at work, taking her sketchbook with her, and then they would go to his uncle’s shop to eat ice cream. She had got to know most of his family and they were always friendly, but she sometimes felt an outsider. Partly, she told herself, it was just because she didn’t speak Italian but that did not entirely explain it. Although she met his sisters and his two younger brothers and numerous cousins, she did not see his mother again, and although his father was almost always present when she went to see him at work, he had little to say to her.