“What did she say?” said Dolly.
“Sommat about peace and goodwill,” Tilly answered.
“Obviously still feeling guilty. Probably remembering the time you two were rowing over the rat.”
“No. Don’t hold a grudge, she don’t. Not her. She’s straight as a die. But why did she rush at me with a lot of Christmas claptrap?” They looked over towards the door where Amy was standing, fumbling with the slips of paper, trying to find the right speech to greet Mrs Perks and Joyce.
“We are so pleased to see you both. You can’t know just how overjoyed our Jane and me are,” she began, finally extracting a Special Christmas Verse for the Bereaved and beginning again in a loud voice about fields of mourning. The ending was “A future of good cheer, goodwill, good season we bid,” Mum peered at the paper, hesit
