Hoping that she wasn’t exaggerating, or hadn’t got the wrong end of the stick, Kitty explained what had happened. ‘So you see, she asked me to have a word with you rather than write, as she didn’t think she’d be able to get leave to see you in person,’ she finished, gripping her handkerchief in her jacket pocket in anxiety for her friend. ‘This sounds serious, doesn’t it? Can you imagine it, Marjorie going into enemy territory, probably undercover?’

Laura came to a halt. ‘Well, I don’t know what I expected you to say, but it wasn’t that,’ she admitted. ‘I thought you were going to tell me that she’d finally fallen properly for one of her blond pilots, or she’d been chosen to learn Danish or one of those other language things she gets so worked up about. Golly, Kitty. That’s ever so slightly terrifying, isn’t it? I mean, when we first knew her, she was scared of Leicester Square on a Saturday night.’

‘She’s changed since then,’ Kitty reminded her. ‘She was so certain she was doing the right thing as well. Honestly, Laura, she showed no doubt at all. She knows what she’s getting into and she’s ready for it. I’m afraid for her and yet I’m proud too. That she should be chosen – well, she must be really good at what she does.’

‘She is, I’m sure,’ said Laura with certainty. She held on to Kitty’s arm more forcefully. ‘Look, we mustn’t worry about her. That will do no good and we can’t change what she’s decided to do or what will happen. She will be needed.’ She paused, casting her glance from left to right and back again. ‘No one around, is there? Well, I bet she is going to northern France.’

‘What?’ Kitty leaned closer. ‘What do you mean? What do you know, Laura?’

Laura closed her eyes briefly and then made up her mind to share what she’d heard. ‘All totally hush-hush, of course,’ she said, as if it was even necessary to stress such a thing, ‘but it’s sort of common knowledge in certain circles that something big is going to happen. I don’t know when, and of course not exactly what, but something’s brewing.’

Kitty raised her eyebrows. ‘Has Peter said something?’