Her words hung in the air, the silence terrible.

At last Hester cleared her throat and said unsteadily, ‘No one is going to take Heini away, Mrs Schimmel. One of the things I came here to suggest to you was that until you are able to leave the country, Heini move in with my husband’s cousin. That way, no one will be able to find him.’

‘Which cousin?’ Vicky stared at her, bewildered. ‘Ilse is still living at Unter den Linden and so is Claus, which makes it impossible. And Lotti is a cabaret artiste. How can Lotti look after him?’

‘Claus? Claus Remer?’ Mo Schimmel was rigid with horror.

So was his wife, but for a very different reason. ‘A cabaret artiste?’ she said to Hester, her distress increasing. ‘You want my twelve-year-old Heini to live with a cabaret artiste?’

Hester ignored both Schimmels and said to Vicky, ‘It was Max who suggested Lotti. There are other girls at the flat. One or other of them will always be in.’

Miriam Schimmel began to cry and Mo Schimmel was repeating time after time: ‘Claus Remer? The Claus Remer? The Claus Remer who is friends with Reichsminister Göring?’

‘It can’t be done.’ Vicky’s voice, as she spoke to Hester, was adamant. ‘It would be most unsuitable and the danger to Lotti would be immense.’

‘But it has to be done.’ The panic bubbling up in Hester’s throat was clearly audible. ‘If Heini stays here, he could be taken away at any moment—and what Mrs Schimmel says is true. They won’t see him again. Trust me, Vicky.’

‘Oh, I do.’ Vicky tucked a stray strand of fair hair back into her bun. ‘And I have a solution. I will take care of Heini. I will ask our friends to forge the necessary paperwork and I will take him with me back to England. I’m too well known at passport controls on my regular route and so I’ll go a different way. Until Miriam and Mo are settled in some country that will take them, Heini will remain with me at Shuttleworth Hall.’

She turned to Miriam Solomon.

‘Will you trust me to look after Heini for you, Miriam? I have a five-year-old daughter who will adore him. There is a little dog. A pony. Shuttleworth Hall is a children’s paradise. And is utterly safe.’

Miriam Schimmel began crying again, but this time her tears weren’t tears of desperation and fear, they were tears of relief.

‘Oh, yes!’ She grasped hold of Vicky’s hands. ‘Oh, yes! I can tell by your face that you are a kind person and that you will look after Heini and that Heini will be happy with you. When will you take him? Please take him soon. Please take him before the Gestapo take him away from me and I never see him again.’

‘I will take him as soon as Hester’s friends forge the necessary papers,’ Vicky said. ‘And that will be soon, Hester, won’t it?’