‘Oh, Kathy, you little fool,’ she snapped in an uncharacteristically sharp voice. ‘Are you really going to let that poor chap go off to war without recognising how you feel about him and telling him?’

‘What do you mean? David knows I love him as a dear friend!’ Kathy snapped back.

Sunday shook her head and sighed. ‘They do say as there’s none so blind as those who don’t want to see. Let’s just hope you don’t live to regret this!’ And with that she stomped off to her room, leaving Kathy staring after her with a bemused expression on her face, and a feeling of dread in her heart.

Chapter Twenty-Two

David left for war ten days later after a tearful farewell from Kathy and soon the whole of Britain was in a state of uncertainty and anxiety. Hospitals were cleared of patients except for the gravely ill and mortuaries were stacked high with piles of cardboard coffins that the government feared would be needed for the first casualties. Everyone was urged to carry a label with their name and address on and identity cards and gas masks were issued. Suddenly blackout material was becoming hard to find and streetlamps remained unlit as everyone waited for the first raids that would surely come.

On a blustery morning in mid-October John visited Sunday to tell her that the two little evacuees he had agreed to house for the duration of the war would be arriving the following day.

‘Really? Where are they coming from?’ she enquired.

He grinned. ‘The East End of London – two little cockney sparrows aged five and eight, so I assume I’m going to have my hands full! But Cook and Edith are looking forward to having children in the house. I’m not so sure Giles is that keen on the idea though.’ His face became solemn then as he confided, ‘Between you and me I’m still worried that he might go off and join up before he’s called up. Oh, I know he’ll have to go eventually but he’s been very quiet for the last couple of days.’