‘I shall have to look for a job, even though teachers who have been dismissed after only one term aren’t exactly sought after,’ Miss Trent admitted. ‘In fact I’m not at all sure yet what is best to do. You see, apart from luck we have other advantages on our side, one of which is that the Huxtables have never seen either me or Mr Bloggs. That may be useful, but I don’t see that we can do anything until the Christmas holidays are over. I have to move out of this house on New Year’s Eve, so we shall need to think about our moves after that extremely carefully.’

Jimmy turned appealing eyes upon Miss Trent. ‘This here room of yours has been a real refuge in a time of trouble; if we can just stay here until Cyril’s ship sails . . .’

‘Of course you can,’ Miss Trent said at once. She hesitated. ‘Look, it’s very late. Why don’t we all go to bed – you can share with me, Mo, and perhaps Jimmy can sleep on the sofa in your room, Frank? – and tomorrow we’ll start to make plans: not least for ensuring that we all have a jolly good Christmas!’

By six o’clock on Boxing Day the oddly assorted group had enjoyed what they all agreed had been a splendid Christmas. Jimmy gave Mo the toy dog with its torn ear, and she gave him the stick of nougat that Miss Trent, on her behalf, had managed to buy. Despite the lure of bright lights, cheap prices and a delicate covering of snow, neither Mo nor Jimmy had dared to leave Miss Trent’s cosy room, but on Christmas Eve the three of them had cut Jimmy’s holly into saleable bundles, which Frank had taken to Great Homer Street as soon as his shift had ended. He had sold the lot, and had returned triumphant to the house in Orange Street bearing all the essentials for a delicious Christmas dinner.

Jimmy had wondered aloud how Miss Trent would manage to cook everything on the Primus stove, but it soon appeared that Frank knew more than railway engines. With the help of Miss Trent’s nail file he managed to get into their landlady’s beloved kitchen, and on Christmas Day itself they feasted on chicken, sprouts, roast potatoes and gravy, followed by Christmas pudding and custard. Miss Trent had bought a box of Christmas crackers for a paltry sum at the very end of trading on Christmas Eve, and these had been pulled with much hilarity. Soon everyone was wearing a colourful paper hat, reading each other’s mottoes and jokes with many a groan, and feeling that the party mood was made all the sweeter by the fact that they were on forbidden ground. Afterwards they pushed the big table out into the corridor and played games, though despite the fact that the streets were almost deserted Mo insisted upon drawing the curtains, fearful of watching eyes.