Dakin was frowning at the last envelope in his hand and Maggie sent up a silent prayer. It had been five days since Ray had taken her letter to the post box. There might be word by now, from Vi.

Dakin was struggling to read the addressee. Maggie had often told Vi that her handwriting looked like an inky spider had crawled over the page, so, perhaps …

‘Might that one be for me?’ It was hard not to fling out her hand and insist on looking herself.

Dakin looked up. ‘Miss Corbett? Ah, yes. I do believe it is.’

Maggie’s heart soared as she recognised the handwriting on the envelope. Vi! At last!

‘Crikey, someone’s excited!’ Nancy said.

Pam glanced across the table. ‘What’s the matter with you, Maggie? You’re grinning like a Cheshire cat.’

‘Sorry,’ she said.

‘Don’t apologise,’ Miss Sharp said, shooting Pam a look. ‘Goodness knows, we need all the smiles we can muster, given the state of the world. I don’t see why you should say sorry simply for looking happy, Miss Corbett.’

Maggie put her finger inside the flap and tore the envelope open. She stopped. Everyone was watching.

‘Go on then,’ Elsie urged. ‘Who’s it from?’

‘What is it? A letter from her sweetheart?’ Big Bill asked.

‘Can’t be,’ Nancy replied. ‘She told us she wasn’t courting.’

Honestly, they were talking as though she wasn’t there.

‘It’s from my little sister,’ Maggie said, firmly. ‘She’s an evacuee.’

She felt Ray’s eyes on her from across the table. Since their tiff at the weekend, they’d only spoken to each other out of necessity, when they were working in the banking hall and, even then, their exchanges had been stiff and formal.

No doubt, he thought she was silly for turning down his offer of the tandem. He was probably right. She shouldn’t have been so impulsive. But it was too late now, she’d burned her bridges there.

Elsie sighed loudly. ‘A vackie, you say? I do hope she’s getting on all right. You hear some shocking stories. My sister’s neighbour’s boy was sent away with the school to Devon and the poor mite was half starved. His foster family didn’t want him there, by all accounts, and hardly fed him.’

Maggie stood up and pushed back her chair. ‘Excuse me.’

‘Yes, go on,’ Miss Sharp said, glaring at Elsie. ‘Read it somewhere more private.’

Maggie hesitated. Where should she go? There were bound to be people milling around in the hall or the drawing room. The other bank staff, coming in from the houses in the village and on the estate, would be arriving now. Work started in half an hour and they often came early for a smoke or a chat with the kitchen staff.