Harry that school is a waste of time because sooner or later he'll end up joining him at Barrington's.'
'I hope not,' said Mr Holcombe.
'Why do you say that?' asked Maisie. 'It was good enough for his father.'
'That may well be, but it won't be good enough for Harry.'
'What do you mean?' Maisie asked indignantly.
'Harry is bright, Mrs Clifton. Very bright. If only I could persuade him to attend class more regularly, there's no saying what he might achieve.'
Maisie suddenly wondered if she would ever find out which of the two men was Harry's father.
'Some clever children don't discover how bright they are until after they've left school,' continued Mr Holcombe, 'and then spend the rest of their lives regretting the wasted years. I want to make sure Harry does not fall into that category.'
'What would you like me to do?' asked Maisie, finally sitting down.
'Encourage him to stay at school, and not slope off to the docks every day. Tell him how proud you'd be if he did well in class, and not only on the football field - which, just in case you didn't realize, Mrs Clifton, isn't his forte.'
'His forte?'
'I do apologize. But even Harry must have worked out by now that he's never going to make the school XI, let alone play for Bristol City.'
'I'll do anything I can to help,' promised Maisie.
'Thank you, Mrs Clifton,' said Mr Holcombe as Maisie rose to leave. 'If you felt able to encourage him, I've no doubt it will be far more effective in the long term than the headmaster's cane.'
From that day, Maisie began to take a far greater interest in what Harry got up to at school. She enjoyed listening to his stories about Mr Holcombe and what he'd taught him that day, and as the stripes didn't reappear, she assumed he must have stopped playing truant. And then one night just before going to bed, she checked on the sleeping child and found that the stripes were back, redder and deeper than before. She didn't need to go and see Mr Holcombe, because he called in at the tea shop the following day.
'He managed to come to my class for a whole month,' said Mr Holcombe, 'and then he disappeared again.'
'But I don't know what more I can do,' said Maisie helplessly. 'I've already stopped his pocket money, and told him not to expect another penny from me unless he stays at school. The truth is, his uncle Stan has far more influence over him than I do.'
'More's the pity,' said Mr Holcombe. 'But I may have found a solution to our problem, Mrs Clifton. However, it has no chance of succeeding without your full cooperation.'
Maisie assumed that although she was only twenty-six, she would never marry again. After all, widows with a child in tow were not much of a catch when there were so many single women available. The fact that she always wore her engagement and wedding rings probably cut down the number of propositions she received at the tea shop, although one or two still tried it on. She didn't include dear old Mr Craddick, who just liked to hold her hand.
Mr Atkins was one of Miss Tilly's regulars, and he liked to sit at one of the tables where Maisie was serving. He dropped in most mornings, always ordering a black coffee and a piece of fruit cake. To Maisie's surprise, after he'd paid his bill one morning, he invited her to the cinema.
'Greta Garbo in Flesh and the Devil,' he said, trying to make it sound more tempting.
This wasn't the first time one of the customers had asked Maisie out, but it was the first time someone young and good-looking had shown any interest.
In the past, her stock response had succeeded in putting off the most persistent of suitors. 'How kind of you, Mr Atkins, but I like to spend any spare time I have with my son.'
'Surely you could make an exception for just one evening?' he said, not giving up quite as easily as the others.
Maisie glanced quickly at his left hand: no sign of a wedding ring, or, even more damning, a pale circle revealing that one had been removed.
She heard herself saying, 'How kind of you, Mr Atkins,' and agreed to meet him on Thursday evening, after she'd put Harry to bed.
'Call me Eddie,' he said, leaving a sixpenny tip.
Maisie was impressed when Eddie turned up in a Flatnose Morris to drive her to the cinema. And