Mrs Larkin gave a warm reassuring smile. ‘You know I’m happy to have them here. Windermere is a new start for you – and the children can visit and come and stay. What’s there to worry about?’

Rosie suddenly grinned. ‘Nothing!’ she exclaimed. ‘I’m so used to life going wrong I can’t get used to life going right.’

Mrs Larkin grinned back. ‘Then it’s about time you started, lovie.’

Rosie told Ronnie and Sally about her new appointment when they next came to visit her at Mary Vale. Without Sybil’s lively energetic presence, the atmosphere was flat and the light summer drizzle misting the garden and the view of the bay didn’t help to lift the mood either. In the sitting room, which smelt of cabbage and custard, Sally blurted out, ‘I don’t like it here any more.’

‘I never much liked it anyway,’ Ronnie growled.

Seizing the moment, Rosie nodded in agreement with both of them. ‘I feel the same – it’s time to move on,’ she announced.

‘Like Auntie Sybil, she’s moved on and gone,’ Sally said wisely.

‘I’m thinking of doing exactly the same thing,’ Rosie said.

‘What?’ Ronnie asked in complete astonishment. ‘You’re going to take a maths examination and train to work in radar, like Auntie Sybil?’

The very thought made Rosie burst out laughing. ‘Don’t be daft, son, I’m not as brainy as your Auntie Sybil, but I can do other things.’

‘Like what?’ Sally asked.

‘Well, before you two were born, I worked for a lovely lady in London,’ Rosie explained. ‘Do you remember the stories I used to tell you about her lovely frocks and her diamonds in a safe-box which I had the key to?’

Sally’s eyes grew round as she recalled the stories. ‘She was like the Queen; she had a tiara and lots of jewels.’

‘That’s right, lovie,’ Rosie nodded. ‘Her name is Lady Veronica and she came to see me here at Mary Vale the other day.’

‘Was she wearing her jewels?’ Sally asked breathlessly.

Rosie smiled. ‘No, but she drove here in a big posh silver car, with a chauffeur.’

Now it was Ronnie’s eyes that grew as round as saucers. ‘WOWWWW!’

‘She came to see me because she wants me to work for her again, not in London but up the road, in a place called Windermere,’ Rosie explained.

‘That’s where Mr Larkin sells his cattle,’ Ronnie said knowledgeably.

‘She’s asked me to go and be her housekeeper in a big house by the lake.’ Holding her breath, Rosie waited for a reaction.

‘Can we come too?’ Sally asked.

‘Yes, you can, but Mrs Larkin wants you to stay with her some of the time, which is good, as I’ll be busy some of the time too, working in Windermere.’