Ella, Flors and Cyrus also held hands, gaining comfort from doing so. They’d been told they would reach the first safe house by eleven, and now they could see it in the distance. They’d walked for the most part in silence, each with their own thoughts, but Ella now felt compelled to voice hers.

‘Flors, I’ve been thinking. I think I will return to nursing.’

‘I thought you would. I was wondering how you were going to cope, and it occurred to me that you might consider taking up nursing again. I agree, it would be a good way for you to get through however long it takes for you to be reunited with Arnie and Paulo. I’ll help with Lonia all I can.’

Ella smiled. ‘You know me so well. And yes, I feel that I have to do something. I can’t live out however long this takes waiting, day after day, for news. I’ll contact the Red Cross once we’re settled back in England.’

Cyrus interrupted them then. ‘Did you bring any money, Ella?’

‘Yes, I did, Cyrus. Quite a bit.’ She told him how, during the initial part of their journey when Arnie and Paulo had still been with them, Arnie had told her that he’d put the cash he kept in the safe, to pay the casual workers, in the bottom of her case and it amounted to quite a bit, to see her on her journey. ‘He also said he would transfer money to the bank account that I still hold in London, so that I can afford to find a place to live for me and Lonia and will be able to cope financially.’ Saying this prompted a thought and she asked, ‘What do you think will happen to the casual workers, Cyrus?’

‘Being Gypsies, they will disappear, once they see that we are gone. I hope so, as they are not safe. As well as the British and Jews, all Gypsies and homosexuals – and those who are physically and mentally disabled – are being rounded up. It is a tragedy . . . But you’ll be safe, Ella, I promise. We’ll get you and Lonia home.’

‘I know, Cyrus. But it is all so unbearable. Why? How can people be so inhumane? How can one man influence so many with his warped views?’

They were quiet for a moment as each absorbed the enormity of what Cyrus had said.

After a while, he changed the subject. ‘You have no need to find a home, Ella. The last communication I had from our estate agent in England was that our house has escaped the bombing, but the people renting it have moved. They have gone to live in the North, with the husband’s family. So you and Lonia are very welcome to live with us. There is plenty of room.’

‘Thank you, Cyrus. That sounds wonderful.’