Maggie had not been at all happy about what she termed as unnecessary expense. She had saved almost every penny she had earned since coming to London, but she hadn’t wanted to disappoint Kitty. After all, the wedding was going to be a very quiet affair, so if her having a new outfit pleased Kitty then it was worth every penny. And she could wear it again. Glancing up from the packing she saw that Kitty was still fingering the material of her wedding dress and she bit down on her lip. No matter how she tried, she couldn’t rid herself of the feeling that there was something not quite right about this wedding. On the odd occasions when she had seen Richard and Kitty together she got the distinct impression that Richard was far less enamoured of Kitty than she was of him. In fact, Maggie had been frankly disbelieving when Kitty had informed her that he had agreed to marry her. But perhaps she should give him credit for that at least? Now Kitty’s child would be born in wedlock, which was something to be grateful for.

She closed the bag she had been packing and told Kitty, ‘I think it’s time we had a tea break. I’m going down to make some, shan’t be a tick!’

She had almost reached the bottom of the stairs when she became aware of raised voices coming from the direction of the drawing room. Richard and Ruby were clearly having words. She knew that she should carry on, but instinct made her creep closer to the door to try to hear what the row was about.

‘You can’t expect me to do that!’ she heard Richard say, but she couldn’t hear Ruby’s reply, and was so afraid of being caught eavesdropping that she hurried on her way. She was deeply concerned. What was it that Richard didn’t want to do? If it was about the wedding, she knew it would break Kitty.

The smell of cabbage met her as she entered the kitchen. The summer cabbages in the garden were on every menu because they were plentiful and Cook had been baking pies for the wedding feast for days now. Far more than they would ever be able to possibly eat, Maggie secretly thought, but she didn’t say so.

‘So how is the bride-to-be bearing up?’ Miss Fox asked cheerfully, looking up from the bread she was kneading at the opposite end of the table to Cook. The latter had been giving her cooking lessons as she intended to retire soon after the wedding.

‘Oh, she’s fine.’ Maggie filled the kettle and placed it on the range then asked cautiously, ‘Are you and Ruby going to manage all right when we’ve gone?’

‘Why, bless you, of course we will, pet.’ Miss Fox wiped a floury hand across her forehead. With all the baking that was going on it was uncomfortably hot in the kitchen even with the back door and the windows wide open. ‘I’ve actually found quite a nice little house nearer to the river in Wandsworth that I’m thinking of renting for me and Ruby,’ she confided. ‘Cook here has informed me that she’s finally going to retire and I can’t say that I blame her. The house I’ve got my eye on will be much cheaper to run and with no wages to find each week I shall go out to work. Probably in one of the armament factories.’