‘Can you hear it? Here come the police … I must fly.’

‘Francis, was anyone hurt?’

‘Lord, no, it’s only a laundry van … shirts all over the road. You never saw such a mess. God only knows what time we’ll get to the flat … Juan’s talking ten to the dozen and Harry’s trying his famous charm on the driver. The beloved old figure in the shabby dressing gown doesn’t seem to be doing so well … I must go and help. We’ll ’phone you tomorrow. Goodbye, dear.’

‘Goodbye … do be careful, Francis …’

He had gone.

It’s very queer, she thought. I’m all alone now; and goodness only knows what will become of the boys without me. We’ve got no prospects. We’ve got an awful heredity, and we haven’t made a good start at managing our own lives. And yet in spite of all these things, I can’t feel unhappy. I can only feel excited and full of courage. I’ve got the strongest feeling that in the long run everything will be all right.

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First published in Vintage Classics in 2021
First published in the UK by Longmans, Green and Co. in 1935

Copyright © Stella Gibbons 1935

Cover illustration © Kerry Hyndman

The moral right of the author has been asserted

ISBN: 978-1-473-59047-2

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