Kitty realised the young woman’s dilemma and instantly sought to put her at her ease. ‘Don’t worry, there’s no reason you should know,’ she said hastily. ‘Thank you for telling me. I’ll go through right now.’ She beamed at the clerk to allay any remaining nerves and the young woman’s face brightened, before she scurried back to her desk.

Kitty squared her shoulders and knocked on the old oak door separating the most senior officer from the rest of the crowd and the ever-present noise of the telephone operators.

‘Come.’

Kitty went in.

Superintendent Knowles looked up from her impressive desk, which had once graced the local bank. The deputy manager had signed up for duty with the navy even though he hadn’t needed to go, and his wife had been so upset that she could not bear to have his desk returned to their home. She had offered it to the Wrens and Superintendent Knowles had eagerly accepted. It lent the little office some dignity – and a huge amount of paperwork could be stored in its capacious drawers.

‘At ease,’ she said at once, as Kitty stood smartly before her. ‘Let’s not stand on formality, Callaghan. Kitty. Sit down and do have a biscuit.’ She pushed a beautiful rose-patterned china plate across the highly polished desktop, and Kitty was astonished to see it held a variety of biscuits such as she hadn’t seen since the beginning of the war.

‘A perk of the job,’ said Knowles.

‘Thank you very much,’ said Kitty, sitting down as instructed, and helping herself to a bourbon. If she had been slightly worried before, she was completely confused now. She had always had a good working relationship with Knowles, but nothing had ever hinted at anything closer, still less anything informal. She wondered what was coming next.

‘Oh, take two,’ said Knowles. ‘That’s the spirit. Now, Kitty, are you happy here?’

Kitty couldn’t stop her eyebrows from rising a little. ‘Well, yes. Of course,’ she said.

‘Excellent,’ said Knowles. ‘I’d expect nothing else from you. You clearly have a firm grip of your job and everything it entails, and you have also shone in your role of coaching the younger members of our unit.’

‘Thank you,’ said Kitty, still none the wiser about what was going on.

‘How do you feel about that final part of your work?’ Knowles wanted to know. ‘The training aspect, I mean?’

Kitty thought for a moment. ‘I enjoy it,’ she said. Then, ‘No, more than that, I love it. It gives me enormous pleasure to see someone come in fresh from initial training but not really knowing what to do when the pressure starts to build, and watch her change into a fully competent operator who can cope with anything. It’s more than a pleasure, it’s a privilege, ma’am.’