She was plainly dressed but clean with a large apron covering her skirt. Her hair was tied back into a neat bun and she had blue eyes that looked kind.

‘I, er … wondered if I might speak to you about a rather delicate matter?’

The woman raised an eyebrow but held the door wide for Holly to step past her. ‘Excuse the mess,’ the woman said. ‘I was just in the middle of baking but do come in and sit down.’

As Holly perched uncomfortably on the edge of the nearest chair she saw that the room, like the woman, was plainly furnished but very neat and tidy apart from the lump of dough on the table that she had been in the process of kneading.

‘I’ll just get these into the tins and put them on the hearth to rise then I’ll be with you,’ the woman said and soon she joined her and looked at her questioningly.

‘The thing is,’ Holly began cautiously, ‘before I was born my mother eloped with a man and married him but then when he found out that she was having me he left her with no money. She has never seen him since. She returned to my grandfather’s home in the Midlands and I lived there all my life until I came to London to nurse. I worked in a dress shop for a time when I first arrived and one of the seamstresses there gave me your address. She’s been trying to help me trace my father and thought you might be able to help me?’

The woman looked slightly bemused. ‘Really? How could I do that?’

‘Well, my father went by the surname of Farthing—’

She stopped abruptly as she saw the woman’s face drain of all colour. ‘W-was his first name Michael?’

When Holly nodded, she sighed. ‘In that case I think you’ve come to the right place,’ she said quietly. ‘And I’m afraid I have some rather bad news for you.’

‘Oh?’

‘Yes … you see, I was married to him too. His real name is Garrett but he left me for another woman with five children to bring up on my own. That woman was possibly your mother and I learned that he was going by the name of Farthing then. Of course, I attach no blame to your mother whatsoever, she could have had no idea what a cad he was. But do you realise what this means?’

Holly stared at her blankly.

‘It means,’ the woman went on gently, ‘that your mother was never legally married to him … He is still married to me, you see? If he’s still alive that is.’

Shock coursed through Holly as she tried to digest what the woman was telling her. If what she was saying was true it meant that she herself was illegitimate. But it also meant that her mother was now free to move on with her life. There would be no need for divorce, for she had never been married in the first place.