Holly too was feeling guilty as it was some time since she had visited her mother. The problem was with her nursing and her job in the shop she had very little free time. Her mother had been very understanding about it and had promised that she would visit Holly. But not until the weather cooled down, she had written. After being accustomed to living in a sleepy market town in the Midlands she always found the capital too busy for her liking and had rightly guessed that it would be even busier while the weather was so hot. She felt guilty for not coming, though, considering how much time she had on her hands, so she had started to write to her daughter even more frequently.

In one of her replies, Holly wrote:

Dear Mother,

I don’t blame you for not wanting to be here at present. It feels as if you are walking shoulder to shoulder everywhere you go with all the visitors that have come into the city. They seem to have come from every corner of the globe and it makes me miss the tranquillity of home and you more than ever. Still, summer will be over soon and hopefully things will quieten down again

Ivy is very much looking forward to starting her new job in the suffragette offices and she is still seeing Jeremy and seems as smitten with him as ever. I know that she misses home too, though, and she often speaks of her siblings and her mother, although I don’t think she misses her father very much. I think of you every day and pray that you and Grandfather are keeping well. I can hardly wait to see you again.

Until then I remain your ever loving daughter,

Holly xxxxx

In August, when she had passed all the exams on her course with flying colours, Ivy left the match factory and went to work in the suffragette office and she seemed to love it. Now she could go to work respectably dressed each day, and the work was much less physically demanding, as well, she felt, as not being very difficult. She did any typing that needed doing as well as seeing to the printing of the magazines and sometimes Holly felt so proud of her she felt she could burst. The timid, skinny girl who had accompanied her to London was gone and in her place was a confident, capable young lady. Ivy’s figure had filled out slightly and now with her hair shining and dressed in respectable clothes she was quite attractive. The only thing that did still concern Holly, though, was Ivy’s relationship with Jeremy. She still saw him at every opportunity although it was clear that this was nowhere near as often as she would have liked, and Holly had formed the opinion that he was taking advantage of her, not that she would have dared voice her fears to Ivy. Her mother’s advice was right, for Ivy would have defended him to the death.