Emma experienced a mixture of emotions as she saw how animated Holly became as she spoke of her nursing and, much as she hated to admit it, she was forced to acknowledge that the girl had blossomed into a confident young woman since leaving home.

‘And what about romance? The young men must be queuing up to take you out,’ she teased.

‘Huh! I don’t have time for that sort of thing,’ Holly scoffed. ‘What with working in the shop and my nursing training I’m too busy for anything else.’

‘All that will change when you fall in love,’ her mother told her but Holly didn’t believe it. She was quite happy with her life as it was without the complications of a romance.

Cook came to the door then. ‘Dinner will be served in five minutes, can you go through to the dinin’ room?’

It was Cook herself who served it when they were seated and when she had gone Holly whispered to her mother, ‘Didn’t you get a maid to replace Ivy?’

Emma shook her head. ‘We have a woman come in to see to the fires and do the laundry but I see to the rest myself now. It gives me something to do.’

In that moment Holly sensed her mother’s loneliness and she felt terribly guilty, but she knew that she could never come home again to live. She had her independence and although she worked hard she was enjoying it. Her grandfather joined them then and throughout dinner he was surprisingly civil asking her all about where she lived and what she was doing. Holly even thought at one moment that he was about to apologise for his behaviour.

All too soon it was time for her to leave and her grandfather even came into the hall to say goodbye.

‘Just remember …’ He looked decidedly uncomfortable. ‘If you ever need anything, or you want to come home, we’re always here for you.’ He paused then, his voice shaky, as if there was something else he wanted to say, but then clearly thinking better of it he turned and disappeared into the drawing room as Holly’s mouth dropped open with shock.

‘I told you he regretted what he’d done, didn’t I?’ Emma whispered and Holly nodded, but it was time to go. She hovered uncertainly, torn between the new life she was building in London with Ivy, and leaving her home again. The partings were still extremely difficult for her but Ivy was relying on her so after giving herself a mental shake she embraced her mother and gave her one last kiss before setting off for the station with tears in her eyes.

It was early in May and Ivy was returning from her evening course when she suddenly tripped and sprawled in a most unladylike manner across the pavement. The paperwork she had been carrying in a folder spewed out and she had to crawl on her hands and knees to try to grab it before the wind blew it away. Suddenly someone was helping her and glancing up she stared into the eyes of a handsome young man who was scooping up the papers. When they were all collected together he offered her his hand and helped her to her feet asking, ‘Are you all right? You had quite a tumble there.’