Besides, soon she would be in Paris. She had bought her ticket and would be leaving London on 7 August, returning a week or so before her father was due home. It meant she had time to execute the list of chores her father had left her for the shop.

Five days with Johnny. Her heart beat madly each time she thought about what would happen when she saw him. How would he react? Would he pull her into his arms, delighted to see her again? She tried to imagine their reunion, but she couldn’t get past boarding the train to Dover, taking the ferry across the Channel. After that it was a blur.

‘You can ask Victor for anything you need,’ said her father, slipping on his jacket. ‘Kenneth too. Though maybe you should try Victor first.’

‘Why?’

He raised his eyebrows. ‘Kenneth’s behaving oddly. I mean more oddly than usual.’

‘How?’

‘He thinks there’s been an intruder in the house.’

‘He always thinks that, doesn’t he?’

‘I know but he said things have been moving around.’

Connie laughed. ‘Maybe we’ve got a poltergeist. Mum always said the house was full of ghosts.’

‘Yes, she did, didn’t she?’

They looked at each other wistfully, as they always did when one of them mentioned Sarah. This time Connie couldn’t stop the tears gathering.

Her father took her hand. ‘I’m so sorry, Connie,’ he said.

‘Don’t be. It’s not your fault.’

‘I’ve let you down.’

‘No, you haven’t, Dad.’

She couldn’t bear her father’s sadness or his guilt. He looked so tired, standing there in his old coat, his face lined, his eyes tearing up behind his glasses.

‘You’ve been such a good girl since . . .’ He stopped and shook his head, searching for the right words. ‘Since she left us.’

Connie hung her head. If he knew the truth, he wouldn’t think that. He would be disappointed and worried, not proud at all.

He carried on talking. ‘I wouldn’t have survived without you.’

‘Don’t be silly, Dad. Of course you would have done.’

‘No,’ he insisted. ‘You’ve kept me going when it should have been the other way around. I should have been taking care of you. I’m sorry, I really am. But things will be different from now on. I promise you. When I get back from this trip, I’ll be my old self again.’

‘You don’t need to change,’ said Connie.

‘Yes, I do.’

He patted her hand and did up the buttons on his coat, his fingers fumbling. She reached out and did them for him, speaking too brightly. ‘Tell me about Kenneth,’ she said, ‘and these things which have been moving around.’

He laughed. ‘There was the carpet that disappeared from the front.’

‘It was stolen!’