‘Look what Ikey sent me! Isn’t it lovely? Eh, I feel a proper bad woman with this round my neck.’ She waved it at Solly. ‘It’s all right, isn’t it, Solly? Here you’ve been courting me for years and never bought me a handkerchief, and look what Ikey gives me after one bit of tickle in the Tunnel of Love! Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?’

Mamma said tightly: ‘Isaak is very generous.’

There were only Mamma and Dadda, Solly and we children present, apart from Jinny herself; the others had still to arrive. Jinny shot a shrewd glance at Mamma.

‘Now don’t fret about me, love. I’m not the girl he left behind him. If I wanted him, I’d go out to Germany after him and fetch him. Eh, I may do it yet!’

‘You would not like to be a German hausfrau,’ Dadda said. ‘They have not much sense of humour.’

Jinny laughed. ‘Folks will always grin if you know where to tickle them.’

‘Tickle me,’ Solly said. ‘I have nothing to grin about.’

‘I’d never find your ribs,’ Jinny said. She went over and put her hands on his broad hips. ‘And don’t you start trying to make yourself pathetic, Solly. You’re a right old bachelor, and we all know it.’ She giggled. ‘Eh, it does seem funny to have my hands on a full-size man again.’

Solly said: ‘It’s a very nice scarf, Jinny. The silk is good. It cost something.’

Jinny winked at him. ‘For all you know, it may have been worth every penny.’

Solly had the scarf in his hands; he smoothed the silk between his fingers. ‘Every penny,’ he said. ‘Every penny, and more.’