‘I have to say yer mam an’ yer gran’father have been really kind though,’ Ivy went on. ‘Yer mam is even makin’ enquiries about the baby goin’ for adoption, though she’s made it clear she’d rather I kept it. She thinks I’ll regret it if I let it go but I won’t.’ She stuck her chin out then. ‘How could I ever love it or look after it after what its father did to me. Speakin’ of which … have yer seen him?’

Holly shook her head. ‘Not once,’ she told her truthfully. ‘But then he’s going to keep well away after running out on you like that, isn’t he?’

‘I suppose so.’ Ivy stared glumly from the window for a moment. ‘But I don’t half miss bein’ part o’ the suffragettes,’ she admitted. ‘Soon as ever this is born an’ gone for adoption’ – she patted her stomach – ‘I shall go back to London an’ hopefully get me old job back an’ then it’ll be like all this was just a bad dream.’ She grinned ruefully as she admitted, ‘I still can’t think of Jeremy as a Jimmy.’

‘That’s understandable.’ Although she didn’t say it Holly was pleased that Ivy wasn’t part of the suffragettes any more. At least at present she wasn’t in a position to chain herself to railings or in danger of being arrested every time she went on a march with them. Only the month before she had read that Emmeline Pankhurst had been arrested after being involved in a bomb attack on the home of the chancellor, David Lloyd George. And then only days before that the suffragettes had been attacked by mobs in Hyde Park while they were protesting. No, as far as she was concerned, Ivy was well out of it!

On Saturday evening the Dolbys came for dinner and during the course of the evening Holly noticed that Marcus and Ivy seemed to be getting along famously. Ivy ate in the kitchen with Cook as she preferred to do but as soon as the meal was over she saw Marcus slip away to seek her out.

‘They seem to be getting on well,’ she commented to her mother when her grandfather and Mr Dolby retired to the study for a glass of port and a cigar.

‘Mm, young Marcus is a regular visitor now.’ Emma grinned. ‘I think he’s got a bit of a soft spot for our Ivy.’

‘Really? And how do you think his father would feel about that if he had?’

‘I don’t think Walter would mind in the least, he’s very broad-minded and not at all snobby,’ Emma told her. ‘But I don’t think Ivy has even noticed yet. She’s too preoccupied with the baby. She’s still keen for it to go for adoption but we’ll just have to wait and see how she feels after the birth.’

Holly nodded in agreement, although she hoped that Ivy would have a change of heart. The baby was the innocent in all this, after all, and would be a part of her, but only time would tell.