‘It was in the same place I got the yellow cookery book, in Café Vegetaria on Nicolson Street. We stayed there all night, about two hundred of us. The curtains were closed and the lighting was kept low. We talked and ate cherry cake and cheese sandwiches, and we drank tea and there was a sort of play put on by some of the women, which was rather good fun. I don’t have a dramatic bone in my body, though, so I didn’t participate in it. And then at about five, before it was properly light, people began to leave. Someone had peeked through the curtains and there were two policemen standing in one of the doorways opposite. They had been there all night so I expect they were rather cold, and this morning they were writing things down. Counting us, I suppose. One of them was talking and the other was writing. But it was still pretty dark and I’m not sure they would have been able to recognise any of us. We all had our hats and scarves on, so I don’t know what the point of the activity was. I expect some superior had told them to do it and they didn’t have any choice.’ She paused. ‘Choice is such a powerful word. I am accustomed to choosing what to do, and not having other people direct me. I used to run the office at Mr Black’s company; I started as just a typist, but quite quickly I was promoted. I hired staff, ordered stationery, made appointments. I was good at my job, and that meant I was trusted with choices. Everything seems so different now.’

Isobel lifted the pan off the heat just in time. Burnt milk would have made the kitchen stink for days. ‘Weren’t you frightened you might be arrested?’ She poured the frothing liquid carefully onto a mixture of cold water and sugar and cocoa which she had mixed to a smooth paste, put the cup on a matching saucer and set it down in front of Ursula.

‘For what? For staying in a café all night? No crime was committed.’

‘But what about the census? Mr Black was completing the form last night and he asked my age so he could write it down. I didn’t realise that your name wasn’t there with the rest of us.’