It seemed to take hours for the train to fill up with passengers, then even more hours as it shunted painfully slowly out of the capital; then it picked up speed, stopping at the occasional station, until they eventually arrived on the outskirts of Crewe. It was here that the backpain Sybil had hoped was a one-off started to resume. Asking Sally to get off her knee, Sybil tried to take deep breaths to counteract the pain but with little effect. Lack of space and dense cigarette smoke made her feel nauseous and claustrophobic all at the same time. Alarmed, she thought, ‘Dear God, please don’t let me give birth on a train!’

Struggling to her feet, she made her way out of the compartment and into the corridor, where weary servicemen were propped against the windows or lay sleeping on the floor. Struggling across prone bodies, Sybil finally made it to the lavatory, where she found three soldiers smoking with the door hanging open.

‘Sorry, missis,’ they muttered as they slunk away.

After closing the door, Sybil supported her enormous tummy in one hand, while with the other she tried to ease the increasing throbbing pain in her back. Trying to remember Ada’s instruction about the length of the onset of labour, Sybil could only hope she would make it back to Mary Vale in time to give birth.

‘That’s if this damn train ever gets moving again,’ she thought impatiently.

But what if she didn’t make it back to the Home? She needed help, someone who could help her if the worst came to the worst. Sally, almost a babe herself, was out of the question but worldly-wise Ronnie might be useful.

Returning to the compartment, Sybil signalled to Ronnie to join her in the corridor, where in a relatively quiet corner she explained her predicament. It was embarrassingly essential that she asked him first off if he knew about the facts of life; if he thought that storks delivered babies overnight in a basket, then she was really in trouble.

Ronnie blushed and mumbled, ‘They come out the same way they got in.’

Sybil gave a sigh of relief. ‘You see, the thing is, I think I might be starting with my baby.’

Ronnie’s horrified eyes locked on to her vast tummy. ‘Now?’ he panicked.

‘It might not be for a while, but if it does happen I’ll need you to empty the compartment and you might have to get Sally out of the way too, find a lady who can help me or call the guard,’ she told him in as calm a voice as she could summon up. ‘Can you do that?’

Looking tense, Ronnie just nodded.

‘It might not come to that,’ she added hastily. ‘I just needed to put you in the picture in case it does happen. Will you help me?’ she asked with a wobbly catch in her voice.