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the back of her mind, she felt a twinge of hope that it might also offer her the opportunity to see a certain lieutenant again, she pushed the thought firmly aside.
    ‘It could make us some money for Weapons Week.’ Nora added, by way of enticement. ‘This is the biggest catch in living memory, at least since the pilchards used to run by these shores early in the nineteenth century. ’
    ‘I suppose so, and worthy of celebration on its own account, let alone putting out the welcome mat to our visitors,’ Sara said, and found herself agreeing, although in her heart she knew that Hugh would be furious at the very idea of her being involved. But how could she possibly refuse? The whole town was talking about the catch. It was a phenomenon. She put this point to Hugh, hoping to sway him, but he wasn’t fooled.
    ‘You must think I’m mad. This shindig will cost me money, I’ll be bound.’
    ‘Don’t be silly, Hugh, you might actually make some. Everyone is going to want to come so we thought we’d hire the Town Hall, get Hamil to play his fiddle and we could have a bit of a dance, followed by the fish supper. But since it’s only a step away across the square, they’ll no doubt wear a path to your bar for constant lubrication.’
    ‘These men have come to fight a war, not dance or go to parties.’
    Hugh did not believe that Sara took the war seriously. How could she, being merely a woman? Yet ever since the start, Fowey had played an important role in operations. The river was deep enough to allow passage of ships up to 15,000 tons to berth, and the town already possessed working docks and a railway, all safely cloaked by hills and woods.
    The navy had come first with their minesweepers and Z boats, armed trawlers and motor gunboats, swiftly followed by the RAF, the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, plus many units doing jobs nobody quite understood or dared question. Situated as the town was, relatively close to the Channel Islands and to France, the movement of the French fishing fleet within these waters was common place, and who knew what they were up to half the time?
    Hush-hush boats, they called them. Hugh was highly curious about their activities but had more sense than to ask. Should he ever chance to see strangers being disembarked, slipping away into the narrow streets of the town, he averted his gaze and forgot about it instantly.
    ‘Be like Dad and keep Mum’, was advice to be taken seriously in these parts. Not volunteering, was another of his maxims.
    But the prospect of profit always appealed and Hugh was sorely tempted to agree to Sara’s request, wondering if perhaps he’d been a touch hasty. Of course, it would mean that his own wife wouldn’t be available to help so he’d have to hire it for the evening, which galled him somewhat. He hated to fork out money unnecessarily.
    ‘You should be here in the bar with me, as my wife.’
    ‘It’s only for one night. Iris Logan would come and help, I’m sure. I’ve heard she’s courting a sailor and saving up to get married. She’ll be glad of the money.’
    This gave Hugh further pause for thought, since she was quite a tasty number was Iris, not that he allowed Sara to see his interest. ‘Anyway, why would they ask you? What do you know about running a dance?’
    ‘It can’t be all that difficult. Nora and Isobel are organising the food, so all I have to do is to ask Hamil to play his fiddle, and perhaps find a gramophone and borrow a few dance records.’
    ‘Don’t be stupid. There’s much more to organising an event than that. You’d need to advertise, make and sell tickets, keep proper accounts of money paid. And what would you do with the profits?’
    ‘Give it to the war effort, of course, what else? Nora already has that all organised, and word will soon spread, like wild fire I should think. And we don’t intend to charge much.’
    ‘I still can’t see you managing all of that on your own. You’d make a complete hash of it, for