Once they were at the station, Bill carried the cases to the luggage van and after a hasty goodbye he went to catch the train back to Birmingham while they climbed into the London train. They found a carriage that was almost empty, apart from an elderly gentleman with the hugest handlebar moustache Ruby had ever seen. He seemed pleasant though, and once the train had puffed out of the station, he smiled at them.

‘Holiday or work, is it?’ he enquired in a friendly fashion.

‘It’s a bit of both actually,’ Oscar told him.

The man nodded as he leant on his ebony-topped cane. ‘Good show. I like to see families working together.’

‘Oh, but we’re no—’ Oscar clamped his mouth shut and grinned at Ruby and Serena. The old fellow had clearly thought they were a family unit and who was he to disabuse him of the idea?

Later, Oscar led them to the dining car where he bought them lunch and Ruby felt as if she had entered another world. It was nice to be waited on and addressed as miss, and Mr Pembroke and Miss Wood were such good company and so easy to talk to that she found she was enjoying herself.

It was late afternoon and already dark when the train pulled into Euston and Ruby was shocked at the number of people milling about. She had found Birmingham busy compared to the small market town she had come from when she had first arrived there with Maddie, but that didn’t compare to this and she was suddenly nervous. What would she do if they were to become separated and she got lost? She needn’t have worried, though. While Mr Pembroke summoned a porter to collect their luggage, Miss Wood watched over her like a mother hen.

‘Grip tight to your bag,’ she whispered in Ruby’s ear. ‘I’m afraid the pickpockets are rife in London and they are so good at what they do that you don’t even feel them steal anything.’