Sibbie couldn’t answer. A picture of Randie, a quiet young man just a few months younger than herself, came to her. To imagine him fighting – wielding a gun and charging – was difficult. He was more at home with his head in a book, sitting under a shady tree once his work was done. She couldn’t bear the thought of never seeing him again.

‘I’m sure he’s been captured, Marjie. Oh, I know that’s bad, but at least he would still be alive, and might escape or outlive the war and come home. There’s always hope – we must never lose that.’

Marjie didn’t answer. Sibbie felt her body trembling. Hardly daring to, but needing to know, she asked, ‘And Freddy? Is there any news of Freddy?’

Like Marjie, both of her brothers, Freddy and Randolph, had dual nationality and had been conscripted into the Allied forces under the command of the British, following the German occupation of France and the dissolving of the French army.

‘Freddy was by Randie’s side when they were ordered forward. Mama says he wrote that there was heavy fire between the German line and theirs, when their officer ordered them to move forward. They had adequate cover from field guns, but despite that, many fell. Some he knew were taken prisoner, and a hundred or more were killed. Mama received an official letter saying that Randie was “missing in action”. She says, like you, that we must hold on to hope, as the night Freddy volunteered to go on burial duty, he and his fellow soldiers searched the bodies, but Randie wasn’t amongst them. Freddy then made enquiries about all the injured, and Randie wasn’t listed there. He told Mama that he was certain, after that, Randie must have been taken prisoner.’

‘There, you see. He’s alive, I’m sure of it.’

They fell into silence again, clinging onto each other. All the while their other, as-yet-unopened letters lay between them . . . It was almost too painful to open them, even though they seemed to live from letter to letter at times, hungry for news of their loved ones.

The news Sibbie had, when she eventually opened one of her letters, was a further blow to her. Her brother Billy had been conscripted, much to his delight, and was soon to be deployed – heaven knew where. The whole world seemed to be on fire, and soldiers could find themselves sent to France, Africa or the Middle East. But Billy, more than any of them, was ready. And this worried Sibbie. His last letter was full of bravado, as if he was going to win this war single-handed.