Cissie’s heart almost stopped as she turned back to the woman.

‘The thing is …’ The old woman licked her dry lips. ‘I sometimes used to make a note of who’d taken the young ’uns, see? It was strictly against the rules, you understand, and if old Crackett had ever found out, my neck would have been on the line an’ I’d have been instantly dismissed. But if the babbies were goin’ to live locally I liked to try an’ keep an eye out for ’em. I got fond o’ the little mites, see, an’ I worried that they were goin’ to good homes. O’ course I didn’t have time to check on all of ’em, what wi’ havin’ me own little ’uns to look after at home but me intentions were good. I should still have those notes somewhere.’

The two visitors waited, hardly daring to breathe, as the old woman stared thoughtfully off into space. ‘Now where did I put ’em?’ she wondered aloud and then she suddenly got up and began to hobble across to a large old dresser that stood against one wall. She bent with a groan and opened the cupboard beneath it, and began to sift through a mountain of paper and scraps, then eventually withdrew a battered old book.

‘Here it is!’ she wheezed. ‘I were worried for a while there that I might have thrown it out. Now what date did you say the child was born?’

Cissie hastily told her again and the old woman sank back into her chair and began to flick through the pages.

‘Here it is,’ she cried jubilantly. ‘It were a couple from Bedworth who took him. Tate! That were their name. The chap had a grocery shop somewhere in the town centre. O’ course, I couldn’t guarantee that it’s still there, but at least it’s a bit o’ sommat fer you to go on.’ She smiled kindly at Cissie then, who was shaking with nerves, before asking, ‘But are yer quite sure it’s a good idea to rake up the past, pet? Yer son would be a grown man now an’ might not appreciate knowin’ he ain’t who he thought he was. His parents might not ’ave told him that he wasn’t theirs by birth.’

‘I’ve thought o’ that,’ Cissie replied. ‘An’ I promise you that if I do find him, I shall be careful how I approach him. The last thing I want to do is cause him any upset. But if I can just see him an’ know that he’s well, that will be enough even if I never get to know him.’

‘In that case I wish yer well wi’ yer search,’ the old woman said with a sad smile. ‘Yer can’t begin to understand how bad it were for us who worked there who didn’t approve o’ the goin’s-on.’

‘So why didn’t you do something to stop it?’ Cissie asked before she could stop herself and instantly the old woman’s eyes clouded.