“Yes, dear.” There was a pause. Then, as if making a plunge, Maggie leant forward. “There’s no need, you know, for either of you girls to be with me, I can manage alone.” Janet moved and Maggie stopped her. “But if one of you means to keep me company it should be you, Jan, and not Sheila.”

Janet felt as if someone had given her a punch in the ribs. She had been earning her living for so long that going out every day, and being independent, was part of her. She adored her mother, and loved living at home, but there had always been her other life, the office, Friday’s pay envelope, her desk, the warm glow that came from knowing she was valued by Horace Pringle and Richard Trent. That life was over; it had finished the night the bomb demolished the office, but once she had got over the shock of Horace Pringle’s death, she had grasped that the shutting of the one door meant the opening of another. She had been hankering to do war work, and she was the type to whom the services appealed, particularly the W.R.N.S. She saw the life as a glorified office, in which she would not only be of value, but have the fun of being part of a community with all it offered, a warming picture after months of living alone. Now here was her mother in that gentle, matter-of-fact way of hers which was so compelling, suggesting that she give up her freedom and her dreams to live in the country, being just the daughter at home. Her face flamed, and though she tried to steady her voice, it was frill of resentment.

“Why should it be me?”

Maggie may have felt a pang at the obvious insinuation that living with her was a martyrdom for someone, but she didn’t show it.

“It hasn’t got to be either of you. I’m a perfectly healthy woman, and I can look after myself, but I won’t have Sheila here any longer, hanging about, doing nothing, it’s bad for her. I’ve been making up my mind about this for some time. If she had taken on this teaching that would be different, but she never meant to. Your being at home, even if it’s only for a short time, is my chance to get her away.”

“How?”

“I’ve no idea, but as you ought to know by now, when Maggie Brain sets her mind to a thing it’s as good as done.”

Janet got up.

“I’ll go and meet Sheila.”