Holding her breath Mrs Larkin again dialled Mary Vale’s number on the old phone in the hallway; as it shrilled out she wondered who would pick up and gasped in relief when she heard Dora’s warm familiar voice on the other end.

‘Oh, thank God it’s you,’ she cried.

After blurting out the whole story, Mrs Larkin asked, ‘What’s the best thing to do, Dora? Should we tell Rosie? It seems wrong not to.’

Having just taken Rosie a simple supper of tea, bread and butter, Dora said, ‘I’ll notify Matron and let her decide that.’ Then she quickly added, ‘Please let us know if they do turn up, Mrs Larkin, whatever the time of day or night.’

After Mrs Larkin had promised to keep her in the picture, Dora laid down the phone and sighed heavily. With Rosie being so ill, was it wise to worry her unduly? Yet again she wished Ada were around to support Rosie and advise the staff.

‘At least we’ve got Sister Ann,’ Dora thought to herself, as she hurried down the corridor to Matron’s office. ‘I certainly wouldn’t want Sister Mann to be handling this.’

Matron was indeed concerned both for the missing children and for their very delicate mother, who despite eating as much iron-rich liver as they could muster in wartime, still remained weak and anaemic.

‘This is terrible news,’ she murmured. ‘If we tell Rosie, she’ll be awake all night and get no rest at all.’

‘And that naughty pair might well turn up first thing in the morning, so all the fretting and worrying will have been for nothing,’ Dora pointed out.

Matron sat back in her chair. ‘I think we must wait and pray that Ronnie and Sally are both found safe and sound by morning.’

As Dora was helping one of the residents on ward duty serve early-morning tea to patients, she heard the ward phone ring out and hurried to fetch Matron, who answered the call.

‘Mrs Larkin,’ Matron said breathlessly ‘Any news?’

‘Nothing, nothing at all,’ Mrs Larkin answered on a long sigh. ‘I’ve just phoned the police, who just said they’d look into the matter.’

Sister Ann’s heart-beat quickened; there was no choice now: she would have to inform her patient, because deceiving Rosie any further was totally unacceptable.

‘I’ll let you know if they turn up,’ Mrs Larkin said with real yearning in her voice. ‘Oh, God, if only they would.’

With Dora by her side, Sister Ann drew the curtains around Rosie’s bed. ‘We’ve got some rather bad news, dear,’ she started gently.

Dora, perched on the bedside chair, placed a supportive arm around Rosie’s skinny shoulders.

‘The children!’ she gasped. ‘What’ve they got up to now?’