Chapters (52)
- Cover
- Margaret Dickinson
- Dedication page
- Contents
- Part One
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Part Two
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Sow the Seed
- Note
- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
- Copyright page
Kate smiled. ‘You did as much as you could in the circumstances, I realize that now, and a lot more than anyone else there. Tell me,’ she added suddenly. ‘Was it you who put the sugar on the second helping of gooseberries that day?’
Shyly, Miss Ogden nodded. ‘I couldn’t believe she did that to you. I was horrified. I should have said more – done something . . .’
Swiftly, Kate patted the older woman’s knee. ‘Please, don’t worry any more about it. It might have made things even worse if you had.’
Miss Ogden sighed. ‘That’s true.’ She paused, then added, ‘I didn’t blame you for running away, but I was so worried about you.’
‘You went to see my relatives, didn’t you?’
‘Mrs – er – Godfrey, was it?’ When Kate nodded, Miss Ogden continued, ‘I didn’t know if I’d done the right thing, because the poor woman flew into a panic. She said she’d just posted a letter to your people only half an hour beforehand . . .’
‘Yes,’ Kate murmured, remembering vividly the woman’s kind and concerned letter.
‘And the next day she sent a telegram and received a reply that you had arrived home.’
Kate grinned ruefully. ‘I was wrong to do what I did – I realize that now – but at the time, I didn’t think anyone would even care that I had gone.’
Miss Ogden gave a nervous laugh. ‘Oh, there was pandemonium that night. But I suspect Miss Denham was more worried about the precious reputation of the school than about your welfare.’
Kate did a swift calculation in her head. Although obviously in the intervening years Miss Ogden had aged, she was nowhere near retirement age. ‘Are you still there – at the school?’
Miss Ogden nodded and smiled ruefully. ‘No doubt I shall finish my days there.’
They fell silent. Deliberately, Kate refused to ask about Miss Denham. There was nothing she wanted to know about that woman.
She opened her mouth to tell Miss Ogden that she had met up with Isobel Cartwright again too, but then she closed it. If Miss Ogden still felt so guilty even after all this time about the treatment Kate had received at the school, then hearing that she was once again in a kind of dormitory with one of her tormentors might fuel the woman’s remorse.
Now Miss Ogden was asking Kate about herself, about her life in the WAAF. Relieved, Kate launched into telling her about driving for the CO and why she came to be waiting on the station.
‘And what did you do before joining up . . .?’ Miss Ogden’s question was drowned by the arrival of a train.