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parted company and Marcus walked home alone, musing on the problem. Having told the men they must not say anything to their wives, he could not break his own rules and tell Chloe. But how often could he say ‘Careless talk costs lives’ before she exploded in anger?
    His family was everything to him and their safety was of paramount importance. Gilbert was in the army and would have to take his chances with that, but what of Chloe and Prudence? How could he make sure they were safe? He had considered sending them to Canada – he had cousins there – but Chloe would nothear of going without him. ‘If the Queen can stay with the King, then I can surely stay with you,’ she had said. As for Prue, being young and beautiful, she would be especially vulnerable. Thinking about it made his blood run cold. It was why he had agreed to set up this local resistance unit. If there were enough of them scattered about the country they might do some good.
    He found Gilbert in the gun room. There were several pairs of Wellington boots and walking shoes arranged in rows beneath pegs on which hung coats and mackintoshes. On a shelf above them were a couple of deer stalker caps, some riding hats and a tin hat. A cupboard housed their sporting guns and a few boxes of cartridges for the pheasant season, but these had been augmented with a couple of army-issue rifles, boxes of ammunition and grenades stacked in a corner.
    ‘Hallo,’ he said. ‘Spot of leave?’
    ‘Long weekend. You’ve got a fair arsenal here.’
    ‘A lot of it is Home Guard stuff. The men have taken their rifles home, but I’ve got the ammunition here, couldn’t risk children getting hold of it.’
    ‘No, but it could make quite a bang here.’
    ‘It’s safe enough. We are going to build somewhere to store it.’
    ‘Secure, I hope.’
    Marcus laughed and tapped the side of his nose. ‘So secret no one will have an inkling it’s there.’
    Gilbert laughed too. ‘In a village like this, you must be joking.’
    ‘Then I’ll just have to trust everyone to keep their mouths shut, won’t I?’
    ‘Did you know Prue is anxious to do something for the war effort?’
    ‘Yes, she’s been nagging me about it.’
    ‘Are you going to let her go?’
    ‘I can’t really stop her, can I? She’ll be twenty-one next month. I can only try to influence her decision.’ He paused. ‘Come on, let’s go and change for dinner.’
    ‘Tim Mortimer is coming. Prue has gone to meet his train.’
    ‘Oh. Don’t know what to make of that. Is it serious, do you think?’
    Gilbert shrugged. ‘Only they know that. Seems a nice enough chap.’
     
    Prue parked the little red MG on the road near the station and ran up the slope onto the platform just as the train drew in. There were several workers from the airfield waiting to board it, but Tim was the only one to alight. ‘Hallo, gorgeous,’ he said, bending to kiss her cheek.
    She smiled at the flattery. ‘Hello yourself. Did you have a good journey?’
    ‘Not bad, at least the train was on time.’
    ‘You are looking tired.’ They began to walk down the platform towards the level crossing gates as the train continued on its way to London.
    ‘I’m OK. All the better for seeing you. I hope your parents didn’t mind me asking to come, but I couldn’t go on leave without seeing you.’
    ‘No, of course they didn’t mind.’
    ‘And you?’
    ‘Need you ask? It seems ages since I saw you last.’
    ‘All of three months,’ he said.
    ‘Well, it seems longer than that. I’ve been bored. Everyone seems to be getting into uniform.’ She turned to look at him as they reached the car. ‘You look very dashing in yours. I bet you are driving all the WAAFs wild.’
    Laughing, he settled himself in the passenger seat. ‘If you are fishing for reassurance that I wouldn’t give any of them a second glance, then you have it.’
    ‘I believe you, thousands wouldn’t.’ She started the car up, did a competent three-point turn