‘Or pirates,’ added Caleb, a bit hopefully for a minute.

‘It’s too long a time for you to look after yourselves,’ said Dad. ‘We need to go now so you have time to settle down a bit before the week starts. I’ll see you every Sunday and sometimes I’ll come and have tea with you during the week.’ He picked up Caleb’s suitcase and took it through the house. I thought, They sent Daniel away and he hasn’t been back since. They don’t see him on Sundays and they don’t have tea with him during the week sometimes.

I suddenly realised I wouldn’t be able to see Sixpence every day and raced through the house, and past the car to Mr Driver’s, even though I could hear Dad calling me to come back.

I sat on the little stool next to her. I was crying as I explained things, so the words came out a bit stuttery. I felt as though a big hand had reached into my heart and was squeezing it hard. At first I thought it might have been God’s hand, but then thought he probably wouldn’t squeeze a child’s heart, so maybe it was a witch. But then I thought it might have been Jesus because he did say, ‘Suffer the little children,’ and suffer was a good word for me right now.

I said, ‘I love you very much and I will never forget you but Mum has gone to Scotland and I have to stay at the Roystons’ until after Christmas. Mr Driver will take very good care of you. It will get lovely and warm soon so you can rest in the spring and I will see you in the summer and water the garden around you so you stay nice and cool. Love, Dorcas.’

Ruthy used to ask me why I spoke to Sixpence as though I had written a letter to her, but Mr Driver said letters were powerful things and that was okay. He said that in the war sometimes letters were the only things that kept a man alive, and you could keep them and read them over and over to keep your heart from stopping from loneliness. Ruthy said sure but Sixpence wasn’t at war and I wasn’t actually posting a letter to her and Mr Driver said, ‘There’s more than one way to send a letter,’ and neither of us knew what that really meant but I felt Mr Driver had said something that was on my side so I said, ‘So there,’ to Ruthy, who shut up.

Dad dropped me at the Roystons’ first. I asked if I could be last so I could sit in the front seat with him for a while, but he said no, it made sense to do it in this order because of where everyone lived. I thought Caleb should go first because Aunty Maisie lived quite close to us but Dad said he was having dinner at Maisie’s when he took Caleb there, and that made Jesus squeeze my heart again because I thought that might mean he loved us in the order he dropped us off, from least loved to most loved, and it made me think of the beads on our string in the tree house.