‘Can’t say,’ the child murmured. ‘Florrie made me double cross my heart.’
‘But it’s something you’re worried about, isn’t it?’
Jessie nodded.
In the absence of chairs, Bobby sat on the floor. Jess hesitated a moment, then sat beside her.
‘Perhaps you can give me a clue without breaking your promise,’ Bobby said, putting an arm around the girl. ‘Is it something that’s making Florrie upset?’
Jessie nodded emphatically. ‘She’s been crying about it all the time. But she said no one’s got to know.’
‘And it stops her sleeping?’
Jess tugged thoughtfully on her earlobe. ‘I guess so. Sometimes when I wake up, she’s awake already. And twonights this week, she woke me up to—’ She stopped. ‘But I ain’t supposed to say about that.’
‘Can’t you give me any clue?’
Jessie shook her head sadly. Bobby’s heart ached for the girl. Now she looked at her closely, she could see that Jess looked tired too.
‘And you’re concerned for your sister?’
Jess nodded. ‘She won’t tell anyone what’s up, not even Dad or Mary, and she says I can’t tell anyone either now I’ve promised. But… but…’ She buried her face in the crook of Bobby’s arm and let out a sob. ‘But I wish Mary’d get the doctor.’
‘The doctor!’
‘She said she was going to before, when Florrie kept having nightmares about Uncle Charlie getting killed.’
‘Is that what’s wrong? Is she having nightmares about the war?’
Jessie shook her head.
‘But it is something you think a doctor could help with?’
Jessie hesitated, then gave a little nod.
‘What on earth can be so wrong that Florrie would need to see a doctor?’
‘Ipromised, Bobby,’ Jess said unhappily. ‘I’m not to say or I’ll die. I double crossed my heart, and Florrie made me have one hand on the Bible.’
‘If your sister’s poorly then you ought to tell someone, Jess, promise or not. God won’t be angry if it’s to help someone.’
The little girl looked so miserable while she wrestled with the moral dilemma of seeking help and keeping her promise that Bobby’s heart filled with pity.
‘You ought to ask Florrie,’ Jess said at last. ‘She might tell, if you promise not to tell Dad.’
‘I’ll go to her now.’ Bobby gave the child a kiss. ‘You go and sing to Livvy and Joanie while I see if I can fix this, all right?’
Having deposited Jess by the coop to find solace in her hens, Bobby sought out Florrie in the bedroom she shared with her sister. She thought she might find her weeping. In fact, Florrie was aggressively stuffing a basket with things to be washed.
‘Florrie?’ Bobby said gently. ‘Are you all right?’
The girl shrugged.
‘You seemed upset before. I didn’t say anything to hurt your feelings, did I?’
Again the shrug, Florrie avoiding eye contact as she pummelled linen into her basket.
‘Can we have a little talk?’
