With a solemn expression on her face Sally said, ‘I don’t want to leave May and the cows and the sheep and the rabbits and the kittens – they need me.’

‘Of course they do,’ Rosie assured her earnest daughter. Turning to Ronnie, she continued, ‘Me and Mrs Larkin don’t want you to leave your school either, son, not when you’re doing so well and you’re due to go back there at the start of the new term.’

‘I don’t want to move school again,’ Ronnie answered without hesitation.

‘That’s what I thought,’ Rosie answered. ‘So what do you say to a plan where you spend some of the time with Mrs Larkin and some of your time with me?’

Ronnie looked around the chilly room. ‘Will it be in a house like Mary Vale, full of women having babies?’

‘No!’ Rosie cried. ‘Zophony House is one of the most beautiful houses I’ve ever seen. Look,’ she said and presented them with a postcard of the house which she had bought in a local bookshop. ‘It’s got a wood, a huge garden and private boats anchored by the lakeside.’

The children gaped in wonder at the black-and-white postcard of Zophony House, which gave some idea of its size and beautiful location.

‘And best of all,’ Rosie said, as excited as a child herself, ‘you’ll have your very own bedroom in that tower, the east tower,’ she said, pointing to the postcard.

‘Just like Rapunzel in the fairy-tale,’ Sally sighed dreamily.

‘Can I go fishing in one of the boats?’ Ronnie asked.

‘We’ll have to ask Lady Veronica’s permission,’ Rosie answered honestly. ‘But she’s a nice lady, I’m sure she’ll say yes.’

So it was agreed with surprising ease that Ronnie and Sally would spend their life going back and forth between Hope Farm and Zophony House.

Ever the realist, Ronnie asked, ‘What will happen when the war ends, and Dad comes home?’

Rosie pulled her son close to give him a kiss. ‘Let’s talk about that when it happens, son, but meanwhile we’ll stick together and keep on doing our best, eh?’

Ronnie grinned at his mum. ‘What is it that you and Auntie Sybil always say?’

Thinking of darling Sybil, whom she missed so much, Rosie repeated the familiar words with a catch in her voice, ‘Keep smiling through.’

‘Yeah,’ he agreed. ‘Let’s keep smiling through.’