The further they went into the city the worse the damage they witnessed but at last they came to a bridge spanning the River Thames, which had so far escaped the bombing.

‘Ugh! It’s all dirty and sludgy!’ Thomas said in disgust as they stared down at the murky brown water.

‘I need a wee!’ Daisy piped up and Ben sighed.

He hadn’t realised how hard it was to care for children. In fact, as the time wore on, he realised he hadn’t really thought about the consequences of taking the children at all. There was no way Kathy would have just let them disappear without raising a hue and cry and even now every policeman in London could be out looking for him. And he still had no idea how he was going to clothe them considering he had no clothing coupons. He also needed to find them somewhere a little more salubrious than the place they had stayed in the previous night, before it got dark. The days were short now and it was so cold that there was no pleasure whatsoever in wandering the streets. They trudged on, knocking on doors, hoping to find decent lodgings. Because he guessed the police would be looking for him, Ben didn’t dare risk staying at a hotel, even though he could well have afforded it. But hotels would probably be the first places the police would look and so Ben was limited in his options. But it was pointless, thousands of people had lost their homes and every place he tried turned him away, until eventually he had no option but to return to the house they had stayed in the night before.

‘Huh! I thought yer’d be back,’ the old woman scoffed when she answered his knock at the door. ‘Want the room again, do yer?’

Ben forced himself to smile pleasantly. ‘Yes, please.’

‘Then give us the money.’ She sniffed. ‘I don’t want yer clearin’ orf in the mornin’ wi’out payin’. An’ what’s up wi’ the little ’un?’ She nodded towards Daisy who was crying with the cold.

‘Oh, she’s just tired,’ Ben said hurriedly as he pushed the children onto the cracked and faded lino in the hallway. He handed the money over and shooed the children ahead of him up the stairs.

‘An’ don’t forget to pull them blackout blinds afore yer turn the light on,’ the landlady’s voice followed him, and he gritted his teeth. She really was the most unreasonable little woman he had ever had the misfortune to meet!

The bedroom felt only slightly warmer than outside and Daisy was crying again now.