‘No,’ Maggie said softly. ‘It’s all behind me now and I hope I shall never have to set eyes on either of them again.’

‘Was Mrs Dawes cruel to you too?’ Kitty asked then.

‘Not cruel exactly but I always felt that she was trying to replace the little girl she had lost with me and I could never live up to her. I was too fat; I was too cheeky. From the day I left Treetops I never had a decent meal again. Mrs Dawes instructed the cook that I must only eat healthy food and she tried to dress me like a little doll. The trouble was, I wasn’t pretty enough to do justice to the clothes she bought for me. I was always too tall and big-boned whereas I was told her own daughter was dainty and petite like you. She was always more concerned about teaching me good manners than showing me any affection, and I learned very quickly that if I didn’t do as I was told I would be banished to my room until I apologised. As you may remember, I’m a stubborn so-and-so, so I seemed to spend half my young life locked away upstairs. Believe me, within weeks of moving in with them I would have given anything to be able to return to Treetops, but it was too late by then.’

‘Oh, Maggie.’ Kitty was crying herself now at the thought of all the poor girl had gone through. But then, straightening up, she told her, ‘You’re quite right. You must put all this behind you and go on with your life now. None of what happened was your fault so you certainly have nothing to be ashamed of, so try not to think about it any more. You’ll be perfectly safe here with me – and think what fun we’re going to have! You’ll see me perform at the Gaiety Theatre in Westminster soon and Max, that is Ruby’s agent, says that after that I’ll be in great demand.’

‘I’m not really surprised,’ Maggie told her. ‘You always were pretty and even as a little girl you were always singing. It must be very exciting.’

‘It is!’ Kitty’s eyes were glowing again now. ‘And better still is a gentleman I’ve met. He’s a photographer and he did the photos to advertise me outside of the club I performed at last week. He’s said that he wants to take some more of me and he took me out to dinner last night.’

‘What – just you and him? Didn’t your moth— I mean Ruby, mind?’

‘Not at all.’ Kitty giggled, pleased to see that she had taken Maggie’s mind off her own problems. ‘She seems to have quite a large following of gentlemen admirers of her own so she isn’t going to mind me having some, is she?’

‘I suppose not,’ Maggie agreed doubtfully, for she couldn’t imagine that Sunday or Tom would have allowed Kitty to go out with a gentleman unescorted.