Roz introduced herself, then listened as the man explained that he had been present when she had been brought into the station. ‘I can assure you, I heard the woman with my own ears, and she clearly stated you had been hit by the car, so what on earth makes you think you were in it?’

Roz briefly explained her escape from Frankfurt, finishing with falling asleep in the car and then waking up in the snow.

Sighing, the man rubbed his forehead between his fingers then stared soberly from Roz to Felix for a few seconds before speaking. ‘Tell no one.’

‘Why?’ asked Roz.

‘Because of what I said about this being a train for orphans,’ Felix whispered hastily.

The man nodded briefly. ‘If the soldiers find out you’re not meant to be on the train, they’ll send you back to Berlin, and if they can’t find your parents – and you’d better hope they can’t …’ he eyed her thoughtfully from over the top of his glasses, ‘… they’ll send you to one of the camps.’

Roz’s face fell. ‘But I can’t just leave them—’

He folded his arms across his chest. ‘I don’t wish to be blunt, but they left you …’

Roz rounded on him. ‘No, they didn’t! They’d never leave me!’

Reggie exchanged a rueful glance with Felix before turning back to Roz. ‘Then where are they?’

Angry tears ran down Roz’s cheeks. ‘I don’t know!’ she said, stamping her foot. ‘But I do know that they wouldn’t leave me, or at least not intentionally. Perhaps my dad needed the hospital, or maybe my mum did, or …’

He smiled kindly at her. ‘Maybe, and perhaps I put it badly, because your story sounds plausible.’

‘You should be careful what you say,’ Roz said reproachfully.

He nodded. ‘You’re right, and I apologise. I’m feeling a little fractious right now. God only knows it’s hard enough getting children with permission across the borders, but stowaways?’ He looked down the corridor. ‘It was touch and go as to whether the Nazis would pull out at the last minute, and even now we can’t be certain until we’re on the ferry – only then will I be able to truly relax.’

‘What about my parents?’ asked Roz. ‘They don’t know where I am, and—’

He held up his hands in a reassuring fashion. ‘Don’t worry, we’ll send word back to Berlin that your parents are missing, and that you believe you were in the car when it crashed. We have people who can look for your parents without arousing the suspicion of the Nazis. When you get to England, you’ll be assigned a foster family, so if we find your parents, we’ll be able to keep you informed, and hopefully reunite you.’

Roz relaxed a little. ‘Do you really think you’ll be able to find them?’