‘Perhaps she herself should be allowed to make that decision, my dear,’ the woman replied and it was then that Tom stepped in. He could see how upset Sunday was becoming, just as he had feared. She adored Kitty and always had.

‘I’ll go and fetch her. You sit still, pet.’ And then he was gone, his limp pronounced as it always was when he became agitated. He found Kitty down in the kitchen having a game of cards at the table with Ben.

‘Kitty, love,’ he began hesitantly, ‘you have a visitor in the drawing room. Would you like to come and meet her?’

Kitty looked intrigued. ‘A visitor? For me?’ She grinned at Ben, laid her cards down, then skipped ahead of Tom up the stairs towards the drawing room. She rarely got visitors and wondered who it could be.

When they entered the room the little woman’s hand flew to her mouth and she gasped, ‘Lordie, you look so like your mother, my dear! You gave me a rare old turn when you came in then.’

‘M … my mother?’ Kitty’s heart began to pound. All her life she had yearned to know who her mother was, and she had always dreamed that one day, she would come and fetch her. Kitty knew she was pretty, and so she had always assumed that her mother would be too – and now here was this older woman confirming it.

‘What’s going on?’ she asked Sunday then, and slowly Sunday began to explain.

‘This is Miss Fox. She works for your mother and says that your mother is now in a position where she can offer you a home with her. Of course, you don’t have to go,’ Sunday said as Kitty stared incredulously. ‘You’re quite old enough to make your own mind up. I just wonder why your mother wants you back all of a sudden and after all this time. Why, Miss Fox hasn’t even told us where she lives!’

‘Don’t you worry about that, my dear,’ Miss Fox stated, smiling at Kitty. ‘The thing is, your mother wasn’t in a position to keep you when you were born because she wasn’t wed. Your father was wed all right – but to someone else, see? He was a well-known politician in London. Your mother wanted to keep you, of course she did, but it was decided it would be best for all concerned – yourself included – if you were to be fostered out. It would have caused too much of a scandal if she’d kept you. Now at that time we had a young maid working for us who came from round these parts, and it was she who told us about the Treetops Children’s Home. So the day after you were born I brought you all the way here on the train, all bundled up you were in the December cold. It did my poor old back not a bit of good, I don’t mind telling you. So I left you on the step outside, then I banged on the door good and hard, then I watched from behind that big tree on the lawn till you came out, Mrs Branning, along of a maid. So I knew you were safe and in good hands, Katherine. I’ve brought the money each year since then, but last year your father sadly passed away and so Ruby realised that there was nothing to stop her having you with her now.’