‘I don’t know what to do about Mother,’ Pauline said finally. ‘She’s probably too embarrassed to say anything to you, but she wrote and told me about Carol’s father.’ She paused for effect but then hurried on before Peggy could say anything. ‘It turns out he’s General Felix Addington, who was overseeing whatever was going on in Devon. She hadn’t been expecting to see him ever again, but his turning up like that forced her to confess the truth, to him and to Carol.’

‘She wrote to me about it too,’ Peggy murmured.

Pauline stared at her. ‘Why would she do that?’

‘We’ve been friends a long time, as you very well know, and she wanted me to be aware of what had happened in case you needed support,’ said Peggy. ‘I can understand that it must have come as an awful shock, especially to Carol, but, happily, things seem to have been resolved.’

Pauline glared. ‘Resolved? Not as far as I’m concerned,’ she snapped. ‘Mother has obviously lived a very rackety and secret life – which is shame enough for me and Carol to have to contend with – and she would have continued in the same vein if it hadn’t been for that American inconveniently turning up and forcing her to come clean.’

Pauline took a shallow breath and continued before Peggy could comment. ‘She lied to Carol, lied to Felix, and now I’m wondering just how many lies she told me.’

Peggy could see that Pauline was close to losing control. ‘Why would you doubt her, Pauline?’ she asked calmly. ‘You’ve always known who your father was. Dolly never made a secret of that.’

‘How can you be so sure?’ Pauline retorted. ‘When someone can live a lie like that for over twenty years, then she’s capable of anything.’ She stubbed out the half-smoked cigarette forcibly in the ashtray. ‘Who’s to say the man whose name is on that marriage certificate was my father? She’s clearly had many lovers over the years, and could easily have had an affair and passed me off as his.’

Peggy saw the light of battle in Pauline’s eyes and knew she wouldn’t let this go easily. ‘You’re letting your imagination run away with you, Pauline,’ she said earnestly. ‘Dolly was barely seventeen when she married your father, and certainly wasn’t the sort of girl to have affairs – in fact, she’s had very few over the years. She liked men and they liked her, but until she met Felix, she’d kept them all at arm’s length.’

‘You can’t possibly know that,’ said Pauline flatly. ‘Mother’s secretive and a proven liar; she could have been up to anything – especially when she was in London or working as a translator abroad.’