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do.’
    ‘Just as Gary did.’
    ‘To tell you the truth, I tried to stop him joining up. I mean, America isn’t in this war.’
    ‘Do you wish you’d tried harder now?’
    ‘No,’ Mary said, thinking that over. ‘No, I’m proud of him. He did what he thought was right.’
    Hilda nodded. ‘Look, here’s my dad.’
    Her father turned out to be a policeman, a constable in uniform. Today, complete with his gas-mask slung over his shoulder, he was on duty outside the town hall. With various uniforms hurrying to and fro, the building was evidently serving as some kind of information station for the evacuation operation.
    ‘Dad!’ Hilda broke into a run for the last couple of steps, and, suddenly girlish, let him give her a quick uniformed hug.
    ‘Hello, love.’ The father took off his heavy bobby’s helmet, to reveal a square, deeply lined face, greying hair cut short and smoothed flat with pomade. He must have been in his late forties. Mary thought she could see something of his daughter in him; he must have been a looker once. ‘What’s up? Lost your toy balloon?’
    ‘It’s Gary. Dad, he’s back—’
    ‘He might be,’ Mary put in.
    The father eyed her, surprised by her accent. ‘And you are?’
    Hilda introduced her quickly.
    The father shook her hand; his grip was warm, firm and sure. ‘Call me George.’
    ‘Mary.’
    ‘I saw little enough of your son before he was shipped away. But he went off to fight for a good cause. And now you say he’s back?’
    ‘It’s possible. All I really know is that elements of his division should have been brought back here. What I don’t know is where I might find him.’
    George Tanner rubbed his chin. ‘The evacuation’s being going on for about six days already. There are shot-up soldiers all over town - I don’t mean to alarm you, Mary - not enough of them by half, things have gone badly over there. Look, I have contacts of my own. Wait while I nip inside.’ He tucked his helmet under his arm and went into the town hall.
    With her father gone Hilda asked solicitously, ‘How are you bearing up? Would you like a cup of tea?’
    ‘Maybe later,’ Mary said. ‘I’m glad I found you, Hilda. Without you I don’t know what I would have done.’
    ‘Somebody would have helped you. People are like that. Besides, we haven’t done anything yet.’ She was staring at the town hall door. ‘Come on, Dad.’
    George came hurrying out of the hall, fixing his helmet hastily on his head. He carried a slip of paper in his hand. ‘Look, we need to go to the hospital. It’s that way.’ He pointed. ‘It’s only half a mile. I could get a car but it’s going to be quicker to walk it.’ He eyed Mary, uncertain. ‘Are you up to that?’
    ‘I’m tougher than I look.’

    Hilda led the way, hurrying.
    Mary said carefully, ‘So you found him.’
    ‘There’s a record in the log, yes,’ George said, with what sounded like a policeman’s caution. ‘They’ve got everything buttoned down in there, those ATS ladies, it’s quite remarkable. Every last soldier logged in, cross-checked, filed and indexed. If only the generals had done as well in France.’
    Her relief that Gary was here, that he had come through the funnel of the evacuation, was tinged with fear. ‘But he’s in the hospital, you say.’
    ‘When the evacuation started, they cleared out all the hospitals ready to receive the wounded. They set up a few field stations in the schools too. As it turned out there were far fewer coming back than had been planned for.’ He said carefully, ‘You mustn’t read anything into the fact that he’s in hospital. It’s a case of first come first served, not medical need.’
    ‘We’ll know soon enough,’ Hilda said, hurrying forward.
    ‘Afterwards we’ll sort you out,’ George said. ‘Find you somewhere to stay. You can be with us if you like. There’s just the two of us, Hilda and me. My wife passed away a dozen years ago.’
    ‘I’m sorry.’
    ‘Long