Only Margaret benefited from this as Aunt Hatt was in full flow to Annie about all the different-coloured curtains she was going to have made for the new house and how she was planning to arrange the new parlour . . . Annie, not being one for fripperies, turned to Margaret and rolled her eyes: Margaret could only hope that this had been discreet enough for her aunt not to notice.

They alighted from the tramcar and walked through the sunny afternoon to see the famous new house. Georgie and Clara met them there with Jimmy and they all stood outside a very promising-looking shell of a building.

Aunt Hatt was going into raptures once again about hot-water pipes and bathrooms and Eb stood in the scrubby earth at the front peering inside.

‘Ooh, don’t go in there, Eb,’ Aunt Hatt said. ‘You don’t want anything falling on you.’

‘It’s very big, isn’t it?’ Annie said.

‘I want us to have space for all my grandchildren to be here at once!’ Aunt Hatt said.

Georgie nudged Clara, who had Jimmy in her arms, and Margaret heard him say, ‘Best get to work then, hadn’t we?’

‘You watch it, Georgie Watts,’ Clara said, elbowing him back.

Margaret thought of this, smiling, as she went out. She had been glad the house did not seem to be almost ready, because even though it was roomy, she felt that her uncle and aunt should begin this new phase of their life without two nieces in tow. And at the moment she did not want to think about going back to face her father. In fact, these days she tried as hard as she could not to think of him at all.

This was not too difficult during working hours as her uncle and aunt kept her busy. Every day she took Annie her dinner at Masters, Hogg & Co. She often delivered messages, which gave her a chance to explore, and there were plenty of trips to the post office. For larger deliveries of goods, Aunt Hatt used one of the messenger boys who loaded up their basket trolleys full of precious goods. But there were always plenty of letters to post in addition to this.