‘That would be a romantic place for a proposal,’ Lilian said with a dreamy sigh. She glanced at Bobby. ‘Or to accept one.’
‘Please, let’s not talk about that.’ Bobby gave her arm a squeeze. ‘Today I just want to enjoy spending time with my sister, with no worrying about boys and all the trouble they bring. We can talk about it at bedtime.’
‘Did Reg say there’d be other reporters at the show?’
‘There must be, since there’s a special tent for us. The local newspapers usually carry a report on the bigger farming shows. This isn’t one of the really big ones, but it is one of the few that are still going ahead. Most have been postponed for the duration.’
‘Is Don coming to write it up for theCourier?’
Bobby shook her head. ‘He’d have said in his last letter if he expected to be in the area. I suppose he’ll send the cub, since it’s a Sunday. Freddie, I think the new boy’s name is – they seem to finish nearly as soon as they start these days, with the call-up. It’s a shame. I’d have liked to have seen Don.’
‘Did he send any interesting news from home?’
‘Not especially. He suspects from the general improvement in his dress and grooming that Tony’s on the hunt for a new girl, worse luck for some poor lass. The lad who was the cub when I was a typist there, Jem, was shipped off overseas last month, and his dozy replacement Len left to take up a better-paid apprenticeship somewhere else. As for theCourier, it sounds as though it’s going from strength to strength. I knew it would with Don at the helm.’
Lilian smiled. ‘You’re proud of him.’
‘I am,’ Bobby said fondly. ‘He started to feel almost like an older brother when I was working there, and he was a sort of mentor to me as a reporter too. Don’s a good newspaperman. I’m glad to see him doing so well for himself.’
‘You don’t regret leaving the paper? It could have led to big things for you if you’d stayed. He might have made you deputy editor one day.’
‘Yes, he hinted at that.’ Bobby’s gaze drifted again to the flank of Great Bowside, looking lush and green in the youthful morning sunlight. Her mouth twitched with a smile. ‘But… no. I miss the boys at theCourier, but I don’t regret leaving. This was always where I needed to be.’
Chapter 16
It was a pleasant walk through verdant woodland to Kiltford Show, which took place across several farmer’s fields in the shadow of a huge limestone crag. Bobby couldn’t enjoy the walk as much as usual, however. They’d barely gone half a mile when her sister started complaining about pain in her feet.
‘I told you to wear sturdy shoes,’ Bobby said as they stopped for the third time in five minutes so Lilian could rub her ankle.
‘These are the sturdiest shoes I own. Funnily enough, there isn’t much need for hiking boots in Greenwich. How far is it now?’
‘Another mile. I’ll find you somewhere to sit down when we get there. Hopefully this reporters’ tent will be open to relatives of reporters too.’
‘We don’t really have to walk all the way back afterwards, do we?’
‘Lil, it’s two miles.’ Bobby registered her twin’s horrified expression and sighed. ‘I’ll see if there’s anyone local who might be able to give you a lift, all right? Charlie might be willing to make two trips in the trap.’
Bobby got a surprise when they reached the showground. Of course she’d been told the show was the biggest event of the year here, but everything was done on such a small scale out in the countryside compared to at home that she hadn’t been quite prepared for the size of it. Dozens of tents and marquees filled the fields under the crag, with fenced-off areas for the beasts, and the air was ripe with the scent of farm animals. One field was filled with parked cars, carts, wagons and charabancs, and Bobby noticed Charlie’s little trap amongst them. Boxer was grazing nearby with a few other horses. There had been a surge in the popularity of horse-drawn transport in rural areas since the petrol ration was introduced.
‘Reg said the show had been cut back this year because of the war so Lord knows how big it usually is,’ she whispered to Lilian. ‘It looks like Bowling Tide fair.’
‘And it smells like a neglected privy,’ Lilian murmured back. ‘I wish I’d remembered to bring a clothes peg for my nose.’
‘Oh, stop complaining.’ Bobby scanned the fields, which were thronged with people. ‘I don’t know how we’re going to find Charlie and the girls in all of this.’
The answer to that, as usual, was to look for chaos and work your way to the centre of it. The two women hadn’t ventured very far into the showground when they heard an almighty row near an enclosure containing a group of sheep. One of the animals, a huge thug of a tup who looked more bulldog than ovine, was standing in the centre of the enclosure looking annoyed while a tiny collie pup ran around his feet, yapping noisily. Meanwhile, a farmer was causing serious damage to his Sunday best as he tried to catch the little dog, getting splattered with churned-up mud. A child had climbed on to the enclosure fence and was waving a rope lead at the dog while shouting, ‘Come, Ace! Ace, you naughty puppy, come here!’
‘That’s Jessie,’ Bobby said in disbelief. ‘What on earth is going on?’
‘Come on.’ Lilian started pushing her way through the crowd that had gathered to watch the spectacle, Bobby following.
Eventually they managed to fight their way to the enclosure fence. Florence was there, looking rather frightened.
‘Florrie, what’s happening?’ Bobby asked. ‘Where’s Uncle Charlie? And whose dog is that?’
‘He’s ours,’ Florence said in an anguished tone. ‘Mine and Jessie’s. And he won’t come back to us, Bobby. The farmer says if we don’t catch him quick then he’ll get one of the stewards to fetch a policeman.’
‘Yours? How can he be yours?’
