voice. ‘Follow me, please.’
Miss Fforbes-Smythe was clearly a bitter old spinster with nothing better to do than boss people about, and Sally didn’t dare catch Peggy’s eye as they went into a small office that smelled faintly of unwashed clothing, disinfectant and, incongruously, lavender water.
They sat down before a large desk as the woman settled herself behind it, perched the half-moon glasses that hung from a chain round her neck on to her sharp little nose, and opened a folder. ‘I understand you want to have your children evacuated as soon as possible,’ she said.
‘That’s right,’ said Jim. ‘It’s not safe for them here any more.’
‘Quite.’ She gave him a wintry smile. ‘Unfortunately there are a great many parents in this county who suddenly feel the same way. It’s a shame no-one thought to take the government’s advice much earlier. It makes our work so much harder when people don’t do as they’re told.’
Jim opened his mouth to give a sharp reply, and Peggy quickly butted in. ‘I’m sure it does,’ she said, ‘but you’re doing such a sterling job here, I’m sure you’ll rise to the occasion.’
‘We will have to, Mrs Reilly,’ she replied, without a glimmer of emotion. ‘Now, we are currently sending our children to Wales. I see you have two boys aged nine and almost thirteen.’ She glanced up from the folder and peered at Sally over the spectacles. ‘And you, Miss Turner, have a son of seven.’
‘He’s my brother,’ Sally said flatly.
The greying eyebrows lifted fractionally as the dull eyes regarded her. ‘Really?’
‘Yes, really.’ Sally’s voice was low and filled with anger.
‘I can only go by the information I have, Miss Turner.’ The woman returned to the folder and shuffled through the papers. ‘Oh, yes. Ernest. It seems there has been some error in the paperwork that came down from London.’
Sally waited for an apology, but there was none forthcoming.
The woman took off the glasses and began to polish the lenses with a pristine handkerchief steeped in lavender water. ‘I understand you wish to travel with your brother, Miss Turner? It’s highly irregular. You can’t expect the government to fork out on train fares willy-nilly for just anyone, you know.’
‘They paid my fare down here – what’s changed?’
‘There is a war on. Every penny has to be spent wisely – and you are now seventeen, and not eligible for such arrangements. I assume you have paid work?’
‘I’m at Goldman’s, and if you won’t pay the fare, then I will. Ernie ain’t – isn’t going away on his own.’
‘Her brother has had polio, and can’t get about easily,’ said Jim, his voice tight with anger. ‘Sally has to travel with him, and I know for a fact there’s a government grant to cover her fare. She’s kindly offered to look after our boys as well, so we’d be grateful if you could arrange for all four of them to be accommodated in close proximity.’
‘I doubt I can arrange that,’ she said, placing the glasses precisely on her nose, and tucking the handkerchief into her sleeve. ‘We have lists of willing householders who will take the children in, but it’s highly unlikely anyone will want a seventeen-year-old girl and a spastic boy.’
‘He’s not a spastic,’ snapped Sally.
‘None of us like that term,’ said Peggy coldly, ‘and if you can’t keep a civil tongue in your head, then I shall make a complaint to your supervisor, Florence Wren – who happens to be a close friend.’
There was a deathly silence, broken only by the loud ticking of the clock on the wall.
Sally stared at that clock, determined not to let her angry tears spill. It was happening all over again, and this beastly old trout was about as sympathetic and helpful as a fox in a hen-house.
‘I apologise if I have caused any ill-feeling,’ Miss Fforbes-Smythe said stiffly. ‘But it’s almost impossible to place crippled children – even if they are accompanied by an older sibling.’
‘I can work and pay my way,’ said Sally. ‘Ernie’s no trouble.’
‘I can vouch for that,’ said Jim. ‘The wee girl here works hard, and that wee boy is no bother at all.’
The woman eyed him over her glasses for a long moment, and then wrote something in her folder. ‘All I can promise is that they will travel together and go to the same village. What I cannot do is guarantee they will be billeted close to one another, or that there will be accommodation suitable for Ernest. It will depend very