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Beth blushed. ‘You are such a kind lady,’ she said.

‘But I’m tougher than I look. I’ve got options, I don’t have to stay in Ireland, and I’ve got a bit of money stashed away.

’ She went on then to tell her about Caitlin.

‘Now there’s someone who really does need help!

But I suspect she’ll just put up with the beatings from her husband.

I wish I could do something to help women like her. ’

‘You can’t, my dear. All you can hope for is that her husband mellows with age.

It’s the same here. Thousands of women are trapped by poverty in bad marriages.

To be fair to them, these men probably weren’t born to be brutes, but gruelling jobs for little pay, substandard housing and disappointment makes them turn to drink, and that’s a recipe for trouble. ’

‘I wonder if there is some way you can tell a man who is likely to become a brute,’ Beth said thoughtfully. ‘After all, these women must have been in love when they married.’

‘I think there are little pointers,’ Margery sighed.

‘Jealousy, possessiveness… I think women get the idea these are good traits, suggesting he’ll never desert her, and that she is very special.

But it is a form of bullying and that’s like a stranglehold on their marriage.

Soon he’s policing what she wears, how she does her hair, and if she disobeys violence often erupts.

We had a couple as tenants here when we first bought this house.

She had to do exactly what he said. He stopped her friendships, kept her from her family too. Then the hitting began.’

‘Crumbs,’ Beth exclaimed. ‘Did you and your husband hear this?’

‘Yes, we kept out of it at first– he was in the fire brigade like Sid. But one night he knocked her down the stairs, and Sid kicked him out. She was distraught, claimed he couldn’t help himself and the pair of them found somewhere else to live.

Six months later she was dead. Found by the police in a pool of blood at the bottom of some stone steps to their basement flat, and he’d run away. ’

‘Gosh, how awful!’

Margery pursed her lips, the memory being a disagreeable one. ‘And I was just like you, Beth, wishing I could’ve saved her; let her stay here. But she’d have gone looking for him, she would never have stayed here and made a new life for herself. Some women you just can’t save.’

Beth spent the days after her arrival shopping and exploring London. Margery had told her clothing coupons had begun, and gave her the address to get some, though she added she suspected some shops would just let her have goods without coupons if she said she lived in Ireland.

Margery was right about that, at least in the cheaper shops, but she did get a gorgeous three-quarter black and white winter coat from the Army and Navy Stores in Victoria Street.

It was half price in the summer sale. That took all the coupons she’d got.

But she was able to buy a couple of pretty summer dresses elsewhere without them.

But looking in shops began to pall. So she stayed in most days and helped Margery at the guest house. It felt good to be busy and appreciated. Margery said she’d never had such a good worker before, and that there would always be a job for her here if she got tired of Ireland.

When Jack finally telephoned to say he was with his parents in Falmouth, Beth felt not just joy to hear his voice but relief the ship hadn’t been torpedoed, something she’d worried about.

He told her he’d liked being on board, and slept most of the time as it was great to be out of the gruelling heat.

‘I’ll need to stay here for at least three days to keep Mum sweet, but maybe you could come back to Cornwall with me before I have to get the ship back to Cairo. ’

Beth wasn’t sure his mother would like that and said so.

Jack laughed. ‘Not my mum, she’ll want to meet you. As will Dawn and Andy, my brother and sister. Besides, we have to make the most of this leave, heaven only knows when I’ll get another one.’

It was a few days later, just after nine in the morning, when Margery knocked on Beth’s door to say Jack had arrived.

‘He’s a bit embarrassed to call so early but he came on the sleeper train,’ she said. ‘I must say, he’s very handsome and he’s got a nice way with him. I put him in the dining room, and you can join him for breakfast.’

Beth hurriedly put on some lipstick and brushed her hair. She left it loose as she was pleased that it looked shinier and longer than she ever remembered.

She had been worrying that she wouldn’t recognize Jack, but as she walked into the dining room he looked far better than she remembered.

That night he’d come straight from a bomb-site, his hair dull with dust, and he’d looked tired.

But now he leapt up eagerly from the table, his uniform was crisp and smart, plus he was very suntanned and his teeth were dazzling white against it.

Those tawny eyes which she thought she’d forgotten sparkled brighter than the image in her head.

She longed to kiss his wide mouth and touch those sharp cheekbones.

But she was struck dumb, even though her heart was singing.

‘You are lovelier than ever,’ he said in a small voice, and moved to embrace her.

Fortunately, the other guests had all left the dining room earlier, and as he kissed her, she held him tight, hoping that would convey what she couldn’t say.

They sat down at the table as Margery came in. ‘A pot of tea for you, and I’ll bring some toast in a couple of minutes.’

Pouring the tea for Jack brought back Beth’s voice, and she asked about his family, and what it was like to be back in Cornwall.

‘Dawn– she’s twenty-two– is seeing a fisherman.

Mum says he smells of fish too. As for Andy, he’s seventeen and he’s applied to join the navy.

They argue a lot– Dawn tends to boss Andy around.

But it was good to be with them. We went to the beach, looked up two of my old friends still in Cornwall.

The rest are in the services. It was really nice after the heat and dust in Africa.

Mum’s cooking was good too, though the rationing makes it hard for her, like everyone. ’

This quick insight into his family brought Beth up sharply, as she imagined he’d expect her to do the same.

‘I’m afraid you might find me a bit odd, not just because I’ve no family to tell you about,’ she said, putting one hand over his, ‘but that bang on the head I got in the bombing has made me forget some things. Not about you, luckily, but I’m struggling with stuff from before that day.’

Jack shrugged and grinned. ‘We don’t need to look back, only forward,’ he said, then grinned as Margery came back in with two plates of bacon and eggs.

‘Gosh, that looks wonderful. My mum was finding it hard to put anything on the table. If she hadn’t been keeping chickens there would be no breakfast. She said she hadn’t been able to get bacon for some weeks. ’

‘You’ve got Beth to thank for that,’ Margery said. ‘She brought the bacon with her. And a huge rib of beef too. I’m going to cook it for tonight’s dinner, so make sure you’re back for six-thirty.’

After Margery had gone, Jack said he had planned to take Beth to the Tower of London. ‘But it’s closed because of the Blitz,’ he added. ‘So shall we go on a boat to Greenwich? I’ve never been, have you?’

‘No, never,’ Beth said, smiling at the thought of him trying to find something fun to do. ‘That would be lovely.’

It was a warm, sunny day and they decided to walk to the Embankment, only to find there were no passenger boats running because of daylight bombing raids.

‘You’d have thought I would’ve known that,’ Jack said, looking a bit crestfallen.

Beth tucked her hand through his arm. ‘Never mind, I like walking around London, especially the very old parts, and the parks.’

When Jack took her up the Strand into the Savoy for coffee and cake, she found it hard to not let her mouth drop with the palatial splendour of the famous hotel.

Fortunately Jack was almost puppy-like in his glee, and didn’t even bat an eye at the cost. ‘It’s a treat to come in here,’ he said happily.

‘I’ve wanted to experience how rich people live in London, but I needed to do this with someone who looks like they belong here. ’

‘But it’s too much for you to pay,’ she whispered. ‘Let me help.’

He looked affronted at that suggestion. ‘You’re my girl, and nothing would make me take your money.’

They walked along to the Law Courts, and found their way to the ancient Inns of Court where all the solicitors and barristers had their offices.

There they sat on a bench in the sunshine watching men in black gowns and wigs hurrying off, perhaps to court, clutching bundles of documents tied up with pink tape.

‘There’s a whole world in London that I really know nothing about,’ Beth said thoughtfully. ‘The law is just one bit of it.’

Jack put his arm around her and squeezed her closer to him. ‘Imagine how it is for me, the boy from Cornwall more used to fishing boats and tin mines than men in wigs. Maybe we can learn about them and everything else together.’

He kissed her then, regardless of the wig-and-gowned men going past, and it felt like soaring up to the sky.

They walked around the City of London, looking at the old banks and other buildings.

Jack talked a little about Cornwall, the pretty fishermen’s cottages, the turquoise sea and the narrow cobbled streets.

‘I so much want to show it to you. Once you’ve had Cornish fish and chips you’ll never buy them again in London. ’

The air-raid siren went off suddenly and they ran to the nearest shelter at Chancery Lane Tube. ‘Just our luck,’ Jack said, as they joined the mass of people trying to get into safety. ‘But maybe in years to come we can tell people we spent our first date in a bomb shelter.’