“You’ll undertake to support her indefinitely?”

“Yes.” A new idea struck her, though she passed it on as if it were an old one. “I’ll probably adopt her, legally. Wouldn’t that square it all up?”

“If the parents approve, of course.”

“They’ll approve.”

The Vice-Consul, giving ground (or had she only imagined his lack of enthusiasm?) summed up for her.

“That’s for the future, anyway. Let’s say, now, that this girl is visiting America on a temporary permit, and that you’ll be responsible for her support, in every respect. OK?”

Mrs Bannister nodded.

“We’ll have to send a cable, of course, and explain all the circumstances. When do you plan to leave?”

Mrs Bannister smiled, giving him a brief glimpse of an attractive woman trying something on. “Tomorrow,” she said.

He smiled in answer. “Or the day after … I’ll see what I can do. Maybe it’ll take two or three weeks. It’ll just round out your holiday nicely. Have you been in Liverpool before?”

“No,” answered Mrs Bannister, without enthusiasm. “It’s not exactly Long Island, is it?”

“It’s an interesting town,” said the Vice-Consul, correctly. “The cathedral is new.”

“I’m glad,” said Mrs Bannister. She rose. “Do what you can to hurry this up, will you? I want to get home.”

While she waited – and there were many more snags and queries to be overcome, before the signal fell – while she waited in the big, solid suite in the Adelphi Hotel, Mrs Bannister studied Esther, and wondered about her. She had done this many times before, but now, in this pause before action, she seemed to come face to face with the odds that ruled the future.

When she watched Esther, sitting passive in one of the deep armchairs, she felt that she was watching the biggest question mark of her life. Superficially, the girl was much improved. She had put on weight, the facial sores were healing, she was clean and neat, she looked as many normal girls of thirteen look; she was pale, slightly awkward, and encumbered with legs too long and shoulders too thin, but there was promise of beauty in the unformed face, and the slight body held the likelihood of grace. Esther had gained confidence in her movements, too: she seemed to have established in her mind the exact shape of the suite – which she never left – as well as the placing of its furniture, and she would sometimes go on a tour of inspection. She could now move from chair to chair and table to table, without coming to any harm; she could walk straight from her bed to the bathroom, and, at exactly the right moment, put up her hand to reach for the doorknob.

Sometimes she would spend an hour on one circuit of the sitting room, touching, feeling, stroking. Some things obviously puzzled her: to the telephone, for instance, she returned again and again, cupping in her hands this unknown object, frowning all the time … But there were other things which she accepted instantly: and when food was set before her, and a fork put into her hand, she ate with perfect confidence, and her fingers closed round her glass without hesitation.