‘I sincerely hope so, but if Pauline thinks he’ll move back in and stay with her, she’s in for a shock. Brendon has really fallen for little Betty, and I suspect he might very well settle down with her in Devon.’

‘I don’t think he’d be that cruel, especially if you and Carol go off to stay with Felix in America,’ muttered Ron. ‘He’ll stay a while to appease his mother, but he has a life to live, and plans for his own future with Betty – and who knows, Betty might want to leave Devon for pastures new, and a ready-made family to look out for her.’

Dolly nodded and they began to walk up the track. Despite the turmoil in the skies and out in the Channel, bees and butterflies were buzzing and flitting in the hedgerows, skylarks were singing above the meadows and the air was filled with the scent of warm earth, dry grass and wild herbs.

‘You’re right as always,’ she conceded. ‘Betty was raised in an orphanage, and so has never known what it’s like to be part of a family; having you and Peggy close by will help enormously should Pauline prove to be a bit of a tricky mother-in-law.’

Ron said nothing as he watched Harvey galloping along ahead of them in pursuit of a red admiral butterfly. He rather pitied any poor girl who had Pauline as a mother-in-law – for like Doris, she’d probably resent her arrival into her son’s life, seeing it as losing her boy, rather than gaining a daughter, and, ultimately, grandchildren.

However, from what he’d heard about Betty from Brendon and Peggy, the girl had fought her own battles with being abandoned at an orphanage after contracting infantile polio, and the misguided opinions of the school board which thought cripples had no part to play in the education of children. She’d won all of those fights, and would know how to deal with Pauline – he’d bet his life on it.

They finally reached the five-bar gate and headed down the manicured lawns to the broad terrace. It seemed most of the patients were taking advantage of the fine morning, for wheelchairs were clustered together as the occupants discussed the news of the landings with the nurses and orderlies who were assisting the amputees and the blinded.

‘It’s when you see things like this that you want this war over and done with as quickly as possible,’ murmured Dolly as they approached. ‘So many young lives already ruined, and who’s to say how many more there’ll be before we have peace?’

‘How come you managed to get down here with all that’s going on?’ asked Ron.