‘Well, now that I know where you are I’ll have your clothes sent on to you,’ Emma promised. Packing them up would give her something to do and relieve some of the lonely boredom that stretched ahead of her back at home.

Once at Euston Station, Emma gave the girls a hug, bravely holding back the tears. ‘Be sure to write at least once a week,’ she told Holly. ‘And come home for a visit whenever you find the time. Your room is just as you left it.’

‘I will,’ Holly promised, although she didn’t know how she would manage with the hours she worked, unless it was a very fleeting visit. But she was sure Miss May would give her some time off when she had worked for her a little longer if she explained how much she missed her mother and made the time up when she got back.

They watched Emma board the train then stood and waved until it was out of sight.

Glancing at Holly, Ivy saw that there were tears in her eyes and she put her arm about her shoulders. ‘Come on, let’s go shopping; it’ll cheer you up,’ she told her friend, and arm in arm they headed for the market with Ivy clutching her pay packet. Holly was reluctant, but she went along anyway, not wanting to disappoint her friend.

Later, Ivy urged Holly to come to Whitechapel where some of Ivy’s colleagues had said they would be able to find good second-hand clothes for a reasonable price. As they wandered through the streets it suddenly struck Holly that she was in the area her father came from. She had never given it much thought before but suddenly she wondered what he was like. Oh, she knew what her mother had told her and she believed every word but she suddenly wished that she could have met him herself, just once. After believing him to be dead for so many years, it had come as a shock to her to know that he was still alive out there somewhere. She might even pass him now on the street but how would she know? She suddenly remembered that Dora Brindley, one of the seamstresses who worked at the shop, came from there too. Would it be worth asking her if she knew a family by the name of Farthing?

‘Penny for ’em? You’ve gone all quiet on me.’ Ivy’s voice interrupted her thoughts and Holly gave a sad smile.

‘I was just thinking that this is where my father lived,’ she answered and Ivy gave her a sympathetic smile. Her own father had left a lot to be desired but at least she had known him and she could only imagine how hard it must be for her friend.

‘From what you’ve told me an’ how he treated yer mam, yer better off wi’out him,’ she told her.

Holly supposed she was right, but if she could just meet him once it would ease her mind.