Kitty blinked rapidly to stop the tears that the woman’s kind words had caused to spring to her eyes. Perhaps it was she herself who was being selfish? After all, she had a wardrobe full of new clothes and was living a life of luxury now. Ruby had also told her that she would have a small allowance each week from now on, so all in all she had nothing to complain about. So why, then, was she missing Sunday and Tom so much? she wondered.

‘Now come on,’ Miss Fox said cheerily, hoping to jog the girl back into her former happy mood. ‘I reckon I can just about squeeze another cuppa out of this pot then we’ll take a stroll down past the river and see how far we get. How does that sound?’

‘Wonderful,’ Kitty said, and settled back to finish her scone.

It was quite late when they arrived home to find Ruby already entertaining her agent, Max, in the day room.

‘Had a nice time, have you?’ he enquired as Kitty and Miss Fox walked past.

Then Ruby surprised Kitty when she said, ‘Come in, darling. Max has decided that he’d love to hear you sing. He’s a very gifted pianist as it happens, so will you oblige him?’

‘Well, I err … I suppose so,’ Kitty mumbled, blushing.

‘Wonderful.’ Ruby clapped her hands together in that girlish way she had. ‘Well, there’s no time like the present, is there? And after that, Cook has kept some dinner hot for you and Foxy.’

Tight-lipped, Miss Fox frowned and went on her way as Max rose and made for the piano. Kitty slowly went to stand beside it, feeling thoroughly self-conscious and very aware of his eyes watching her closely. Could she have known it, his heart was beating fast and he was praying that this girl would sing half as well as she looked. It was getting more and more difficult now to get bookings for Ruby, much to her chagrin, but if this girl had talent, he had no doubt whatsoever that he would be able to make her into a star.

‘Right – do you know “The Boy I Love is Up in the Gallery”?’

It was one of her favourite songs. She swallowed and nodded solemnly as he took a seat on the piano stool and flexed his fingers. She then tried to relax and took some deep breaths as she remembered all that Miss Lark had taught her.

When she was ready, he began to play – and as she sang the poignant lyrics she became lost in the song, and even forgot that Max and her mother were in the room.

When it was done, she stood with her hands joined neatly in front of her and there was utter silence … until Max exclaimed, ‘Bravo! My dear girl, that was wonderful!’

Kitty flushed prettily. Max was quite old, she considered, but he was still a very handsome man and she preened at his praise.