The guard was rushing along opening doors and people were emerging as others climbed aboard, but still Kitty and Sunday clung together until Miss Fox said quietly, ‘We’d best be getting aboard now.’

One last kiss and then Miss Fox was edging Kitty towards the carriage door as Tom lifted their bags aboard. The guard was slamming the doors and once he had shut theirs Kitty let down the window and hung out, suddenly panicking.

‘I’ll write often,’ she shouted above the roar of the engine.

‘Just make sure you do, and forward us your address as soon as you’re settled in,’ Sunday called back. She still felt uneasy at allowing Kitty to go off into the great unknown, even though she had always known in her heart that this day would come. But then the guard blew his whistle and the train chugged into life again.

Kitty could see the three of them standing on the platform waving furiously and she waved back as the train picked up speed and bore her away from everything that was familiar. Soon her Treetops family were nothing but tiny specks in the distance. Luckily they had a carriage all to themselves so there was no one but Miss Fox to see Kitty’s tears.

‘Now then,’ the little woman said brightly, delving into her bag, ‘I had the lady at my lodging house make us a few sandwiches for the journey. Would you like one? They look quite tasty as it happens. Cheese and home-made chutney, I believe she said they were.’

‘No, thank you.’

Kitty dabbed at her cheeks with a handkerchief and soon her home town was far behind her. It was then that she began to feel more optimistic. After all, London wasn’t so very far away and she could always come back to visit them all. Better still, they could come and visit her. What fun she could have, showing them around London.

‘Is my mother’s house very big?’ she asked then and with a mouthful of sandwich, Miss Fox nodded.

‘Quite big, and it’s in one of the finest roads in Chelsea. She has a maid and a cook … and me, of course. Then there’s the laundry maid and the housekeeper. She used to have a groom who saw to the horses too, but she let him go a while back. Cabs are two a penny in London so we had no real need of our own carriage.’

‘And what do you do for my mother? Are you her lady’s maid?’ Kitty had so many questions that she wanted to ask.

Miss Fox swallowed the food in her mouth. ‘I’m not quite sure what I’d be classed as really,’ she replied vaguely. ‘I’ve been with your mother so long now, I dare say you’d call me her companion.’

‘And is she very beautiful?’

‘Oh, she’s still a fine-looking woman right enough, although she’s just turned forty so she’s not exactly in the first flush of youth any more. But once upon a time, you’d not mention her name anywhere in London without it being known. She was one of the darlings of the music halls. Every time she went on stage she’d arrive back at her dressing room to find bottles of champagne, jewels and huge bouquets from her many admirers waiting for her. And oh … she had the voice of an angel.’ Miss Fox smiled reminiscently.