‘Well, they wouldn’t send you if they thought that,’ Kitty pointed out at once. She wasn’t taken in by that for a moment.

‘Then it looks as if it’ll be for several weeks, if not months,’ Danny said. ‘They wouldn’t tell me exactly. And now I’m wondering if this – ’ he pointed to the headline on the front page of the newspaper – ‘will mean we won’t be needed for much longer.’

‘Or it might mean you’re needed all the more,’ Kitty said. ‘We don’t know, do we? I don’t suppose they asked you if you wanted to go, did they? They’ll have told you it’s what you’ll be doing, like it or not.’

Danny raised his hands and let them fall back to the table. ‘Pretty well. Kitty, you know what it’s like as well as I do. They’ve decided that certain people with certain skills need to learn new ones, and I’m to be one of them.’

Kitty met his gaze. ‘Aren’t you flattered, just a bit?’ she asked. ‘I would be.’

Danny turned away. ‘Well, I suppose so.’ That was part of the problem. He knew he was good at what he did, and so it was pretty gratifying for that to be recognised, and to be singled out for special training. Nobody had helped him get to this position. He hadn’t had years of private schooling followed by university, unlike many of the others. He simply had the sort of brain that flourished when asked to solve strange puzzles. It was a source of great pride to him, as he was physically unable to serve his country in any other way. ‘But what about Tommy? He’s only just come home and begun that job. Now I’ll be leaving you in the lurch to look after him again.’

Kitty sighed. That was the first thing she had thought of too – how could she keep an eye on the boy when she worked all hours? Then she sat up straight. ‘We’ll think of something,’ she said. ‘You mustn’t worry about us. Tommy’s older now, and he’s got his work to keep him busy. He won’t have the time or energy to get into scrapes.’ She hoped this was true. ‘I can sort something out with Dolly or Rita if I’m on night shift. We’ve managed before, we can do it again.’

Danny’s face relaxed with relief. ‘Do you think you can, really? It would be a load off my mind if I knew that you two would be all right while I was away.’

‘Of course we will be,’ said Kitty, more sure now. ‘Look at how many other people get by – we’re lucky. Our house hasn’t been damaged, we’ve got friends and neighbours nearby, and both Tommy and I are working with money coming in.’