I tiptoed around the kitchen, trying not to get in Mrs. Campbell’s way as I put together a tray. I couldn’t bear to think of what was happening in the limekilns; it took every bit of sense I had in me not to pull on Mrs. Campbell’s wellie boots again and rush outside. I carried Jane’s tray upstairs. We couldn’t listen to the radio, but we heard the men digging.

Early in the afternoon, the emergency workers uncovered Eberhard Moritz, and he was all right. They moved him to the aerodrome and kept digging. At the same time, men were also mending the underground electric cables that powered the Limehouse. I found this out from Morag Torrie, who brought us tea and sandwiches and some arnica tincture to rub on Jane’s hurt hand.

“Mrs. Campbell’s popped down to the village,” Morag said. “There were so many folk in this morning, with the rescue, that she’s out of milk and tea and cheese. I don’t think she’ll get any at the shop—she’s not got the extra ration tickets and is cross about it. You’ve got the last of the bread. I’m off work now so I’ll lock up, as the other girls are at the air base and you’re alone here. Is Mrs. Warner warm enough? Oh, the fire’s on and it’s not three o’clock yet. Does Mrs. Campbell know?”

We both looked at the fire. I noticed that the meter had about an hour to go before it would need another shilling.

“She said to put it on for Mrs. Warner, as she’s hurt and can’t come downstairs,” I said.

“Mrs. Campbell is a very generous woman underneath,” said Morag stoutly. “She’ll let herself in, but don’t open up to that emergency crew, because there isn’t anything else to feed them!”

“You can count on us to hold the fort,” Jane repeated, as if it hadn’t taken her twenty minutes to get to the toilet and back, hobbling with me for support and hanging on me with her bad arm over my shoulder while she wiped with her good one.

So Morag went and we held the fort.

Holding the fort meant trying to read aloud to Jane and stopping every ten minutes to stick my head out the window and try to work out if anything new had happened. We were both wildly restless. After an hour Jane exclaimed, “This will never do! Louisa, why don’t you bring up the gramophone? We can have a concert.”

So I went to get it.