“They’re not going to one tonight, are they?” Polly asked anxiously. The big raids which had hit Bank and Liverpool Street stations were tonight.

“I do hope not,” Miss Laburnum said. “We’re reading a scene from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and we’ll need them for Mustardseed and Peaseblossom.”

Neither Mike nor Eileen was back when the sirens went, or at Notting Hill Gate when Polly got there. Before they’d left the night before, she’d reminded them to take shelter the moment they heard the sirens and not to board any train that would go through Bank or Liverpool Street Station, which meant they might be some time getting here.

She left a note for them in the staircase and went out to the platform. Lila and Viv, thankfully, were there, and so was everyone else except Mr. Simms, who was on duty, and Mrs. Rickett, whom Mr. Dorming reported was convinced the weather was too bad for raids. “She may be right,” he said. “It looks as though it might snow.”

That won’t stop the Luftwaffe tonight, Polly thought.

The troupe did Titania and Bottom’s scene from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the rector recited the Lord Admiral’s song from H.M.S. Pinafore, and Polly and Sir Godfrey did a scene from The Importance of Being Earnest, raising their voices over the screech and thud of what sounded like hundreds of bombs.

Polly kept expecting Eileen and Mike to come at any moment, but they didn’t. Mrs. Rickett did, looking annoyed at having been wrong about the raids. “Did Miss O’Reilly come home after I left for here?” Polly asked her.

“No, she hasn’t been there since this afternoon.”

“This afternoon?”

She nodded. “She told me she wouldn’t be in to dinner and to give you this.”

She handed Polly an envelope. Inside was a scrawled note from Eileen: “Dear Polly, Worried about Alf and Binnie. They said Bank was one of the stations they’re often in. Have gone to make certain they’re not there. Eileen.”

Gone to make certain they’re not there? Polly thought, horrified. On the night Bank Station was bombed?

She grabbed up her coat and began putting it on. “Where are you going?” Sir Godfrey asked.

“To find Miss O’Reilly.”

“But it’s nearly eleven,” Miss Laburnum said. “The trains will have already stopped for the night.”

“She’ll surely have gone to a shelter when the raids began,” the rector said.

That’s just the problem, Polly thought. She’s gone to a shelter which is going to be bombed.

But Eileen knew it was going to be bombed. She’d find Alf and Binnie and get them out of there immediately. If they didn’t refuse to go. They’d delayed her on the twenty-ninth. What if they delayed her tonight and kept her from leaving the station?

“I’m certain nothing will happen to your friend,” the rector said reassuringly.

He’s right, Polly thought. You’re forgetting about VE-Day. You saw her there in her green coat, which means she can’t have been killed at Bank Station.