‘But you’re not cruel and mean,’ Ruth said.

‘I s’pose I had other people who were kind to me. I had Jenny and Stanley, and Em’s family. Bert never had any of that. Anyroad, everyone’s dead now, except Mom. Well, and Tom, my other brother, but he might just as well be. I’m not going back there again, for all the tea in China.

Ruth was silent for several paces, then quietly she just said, ‘My God.’

‘Not pretty, is it?’

‘No, it’s not – but, Molly, you’re truly remarkable.’

‘Not really,’ Molly said dully. ‘I thought for a while I might’ve made summat of myself. When the Gorgon promoted me and we went to Belgium – it was the most exciting thing that’s ever happened to me.’

‘You were a Lance Corporal!’

‘Yes.’ She was pleased that Ruth remembered. ‘It felt like the beginning of something. As if it was meant. Then the war ended and now . . .’ She shrugged again. ‘It’s all gone. I don’t feel as if there’s anything for me now, as if I’ll just be stuck down here forever.’ More tears of bereavement ran down her cheeks.

‘But, Molly,’ Ruth said urgently, ‘you can’t just let yourself get stuck. You’re so intelligent – honestly, I’m not flattering you. You could be doing something more than being a cook or a chambermaid, I’m sure you could.’

Molly sighed. ‘But what? I’ve got nothing, and no money.’

‘What about night school? You could get qualifications – shorthand, typing or bookkeeping, that sort of thing. I don’t know if you could do it in Clacton, but . . .’

Molly was shaking her head. She felt almost angry at hearing these possibilities put before her.

‘No, that sort of thing’s not for me.’

‘Why not?’

‘It just isn’t. Anyway, I work evenings. I couldn’t get out.’

Ruth looked at her uncomprehendingly. ‘Don’t you want to get out of here and do something else, Molly?’

‘Well, yes . . .’ But she couldn’t explain. Ruth came from another world, no matter how much she was trying to help. The army had been one thing; it had given her a false confidence. Doing something better sounded nice in theory, but thinking of who she was, where she’d come from – it didn’t seem like a real possibility. She felt her time had passed. Better things were not for her.

Ruth didn’t insist. She seemed to sense that she wasn’t getting anywhere.

They turned back, facing into the sun, which was about to disappear behind the land, and wandered along.

‘You know,’ Ruth said, ‘something’ll turn up, Molly. It has a way of doing that – don’t be downcast.’ She touched Molly’s arm. ‘In the meantime, let me treat you to fish and chips, can I?’

Molly smiled, glad to change the subject. ‘Go on then – let’s be devils, shall we?’

Thirty-Five

‘Did you have a nice time with your friend?’ Jane Lester asked the next day, after Ruth had left on a morning train. ‘She seemed ever such a nice girl.’