‘We’ll disappear into the countryside like a raindrop into a puddle,’ Miss Glenys said gaily. ‘Goodness, it’s getting quite light, and it must be pretty mild because the fields are showing more green than white. Furthermore, I’ve had a thought. As soon as we stop at a station big enough to have a public call box we’ll have another go at reaching Frank.’ She chuckled. ‘Mrs Hughes and her horrible sister aren’t the only ones to make use of the telephone system. I won’t try a tiny station, because everyone knows that operators in country districts listen in. But where the branch line goes off, I think we might try there. At least we can tell Frank which town we’re heading for and he can tell us about this reward. It should make interesting listening.’

The train was a slow one, stopping at every tiny station. Sometimes passengers came aboard, sometimes goods such as boxes of groceries or livestock were loaded into the guard’s van, but whenever there was a telephone box there was also a queue. Even when the train was moving, it seemed to crawl along; work on the line, a porter at the last station had told them. ‘This ’un will be a couple of hours late, if you ask me.’

‘A couple of hours!’ Glenys had said. She had reached out and patted Mo’s cheek. ‘Never mind, love. You’ve been so good and patient that when we’ve got some spare money you shall buy yourself a little treat.’

Mo had smiled, stretched and yawned, and later she had stood up and gone out into the corridor, returning to say she was sure she could walk faster than the train was travelling. ‘When we get to the next station, I’m going to run up and down the platform so’s I’m really tired, then perhaps I can sleep until we reach where we’re going,’ she had announced.

But now the train had stopped again and there seemed to be some sort of altercation between the station staff and the passengers, for there were voices raised in protest, and a general outcry when they were told that this train would not take them all the way to its advertised destination.

Mo, nose pressed to the window, turned to Glenys. ‘Even if I got down and tried to push my way through, it wouldn’t be possible to run backwards and forwards along the platform,’ she said. ‘Oh, but there’s someone selling drinks – cups of tea and that – from a sort of trolley thing further down the platform. Would you like a drink, Auntie Glenys? If you give me some money I’m sure there would be time for me to join the queue and buy us a cup of tea. This train won’t be going off in a hurry, by what the guard said.’

Glenys agreed that this was a good idea, but when Mo had jumped down on to the platform she called her back. ‘Wait a minute, love. Is that a telephone box I can see just round the corner of the station buildings? If so, I do believe I might try to get in touch with Frank.’ She hesitated, looking up and down the crowded platform. ‘Tell you what, I’ll go to the call box and you go to the drinks trolley, and if either of us see the porter waving his green flag we’ll warn the other one and get back on the train. Jimmy, put our bags on our seats and don’t let anyone move them.’