Gossip was still nipping at her heels. Mrs Tiddy had been watching and telling tales to Jack, and at it again only this morning – was it this morning? No, the morning was a long time ago. She had just turned round and heard them talking, surely. They were still outside, weren’t they? Mrs Tiddy must have waited for Jack, got up early. Perhaps she had been outside the front door all night, hanging on for her chance to pounce. Pearl heard them talking, the window just ajar. ‘It’s not that I’m prying,’ Mrs Tiddy said. ‘We’re all worried.’ Pearl heard Jack’s foot scrape along the bare dirt, then his cough, awkward and full of his need to get away. ‘Pearl has been a bit wisht these last few weeks,’ he said. ‘Nothing serious mind. Just the move and then bit of a chill that won’t leave her go.’ ‘Dearie me.’ ‘It’s laid her low and you know how her chest is,’ Jack said. ‘She won’t slow down. Always liked her walks, hasn’t she?
