She was glad to get away from home, a massive, stiffly furnished house in a wealthy suburb of Liverpool.

Her mother, since she could remember, had been an invalid, rarely leaving her bedroom till the afternoon.

Her father, the owner of large engineering works, she only saw, as a rule, at dinner-time, when she would come down to dessert.

It had been different when she was very young, before her mother had been taken ill.

Then she had been more with them both.