‘Everything must be as normal. The plan Iris told us about – that you were to wear her clothes – was ridiculous. If we have a visit from Matron early in the evening, she’ll notice. So you prepare for bed, and go to bed in exactly the same way as allus. When we come for you, you go as you are, in your nightshift. We’ll not have time to go to the cloakroom to get you a coat and, even if we did have time, we wouldn’t, as it would be noted that the coat was missing. And then how do we account for you getting through locked doors, to get the coat? It must look as though you woke up, saw a chance and took it. As it is, we’ll get into trouble for the ward door being unlocked, but we’re going to report an incident that took our attention and say that we didn’t notice you get out.’

Mags just nodded. She didn’t care if she left this building stark naked, as long as she escaped. Please God, let it happen. And please, please, let it succeed and let me get away from here.

PART THREE

London, Blackburn and Portpatrick, 1921

Mags, Harold and Montel

Loss Suffered – Love Found

Chapter Nineteen

Mags sat in David’s car as he sped away, and her body shivered with cold. The damp night air had bitten through her thin nightshift. Her slippers had soaked up water from the muddy puddles in the grass as they’d sped across to the gate, but her elation made up for all these discomforts.

David squeezed her hand. Mags smiled, keeping her eyes to the front as she dared not, and didn’t want to, look back.

‘I’ve left the coat, hat and shoes that Betsy bought for you out of the suitcase, so that you can put them on top of your nightshift. They’ll warm you up, and you’ll look better going into the hotel in them. I’ll stop when I can, but in the meantime reach for that rug on the back seat and wrap it around you.’

Mags spoke for the first time. ‘Thank you, David.’ The words came out on a sob.

‘There now. Let it out, if you must, but it’s all over. No matter what happens, I’ll never allow you to go back in there.’

Saying ‘Thank you’ once more was all Mags could manage. She felt fragile. The whole scheme, which had given her so much hope, had felt so fragile. She couldn’t believe that she was free. Free, free. Oh God, thank you.

After chatting on this and that, David surprised her by mentioning Montel.

‘I met that young man, Montel. He and Susan didn’t get away with their ploy that I told you about, in one of my notes. Harold didn’t fall for the story that Montel was bringing the baby up north because he couldn’t cope, and he gave Susan an ultimatum. She gave in. Montel is taking the baby back down to London. He was in despair at having his hopes dashed, about rescuing you and riding off into the sunset with you – well, you know what Frenchmen are like, very over-dramatic. Especially as Montel is an artist. A very interesting and talented young man.’