Hot weather went on. Mere went down, dam went up. Folk said that with no water to hold in, it weren't really a dam at all, just a big wall, like Hadrian's up north, to keep foreigners out.

Except it hadn't worked. There were two in already. Arne Krog and Inger Sandel.

I knew then quite well 'cos Aunt Chloe often invited me to Heck to play with Mary. Also Arne remembered me from singing in the school choir last year, and when he heard I were singing the "Ash Grove" solo this year, he asked me to sing it to him one day. I were so pleased, I just started right off without waiting for him to start playing the music on the piano. He listened till I finished, then sat down at the piano. It were one of them baby grands, Mr. Wulfstan played a bit himself, but he'd really bought it for Mary to practice on during the holidays. Mary didn't like playing very much, she told me. I'd have liked to learn, but we didn't have a piano and no hope of getting one. Anyway, Arne played a note and asked me to sing it, then a few more, then he played half a dozen and asked me which was the one that came at the end of the second line of the "Ash Grove."

When I told him, he turned to Inger and said, "You hear that? I think little Betsy could have perfect pitch."

She just looked at him, blank like, which meant nowt 'cos that was how she usually looked. She could talk English as good as him, only she never bothered unless she had to. As for me, I had no idea what he were talking about but I felt really chuffed that I'd got something that pleased Arne.

This piano at Heck had to be shifted to St. George's for the concert. There were an old piano in the village hall but it were useless for proper singing, and the one at school weren't much better. If a cat ran up and down keyboard, he'd have made it sound as musical as Miss Lavery when she tried to play it. So it had to be Mr. Wulfstan's baby grand.