Chapter Twelve
The police were notified, and a notice put in the Cambridge Gazette for the mother of the abandoned newborn to come forward, but nobody did.
Being an abandoned wartime baby wasn’t an uncommon occurrence, in fact there had been a surge in illegitimate births resulting in unwanted babies, so what was one more to add to the tally?
Some of the children at the home were there because their families couldn’t afford to keep them.
Sometimes the parents returned months or even years later to reclaim them.
Every so often they would all be scrubbed clean and dressed in what passed for their Sunday best with ribbons in their hair for the girls and, for the boys who were old enough to wear them, tightly knotted ties.
Encouraged to behave well, they would be introduced to couples who, if they saw what they liked, and having been thoroughly vetted by Lady Constance who ran the home, would be considered prospective parents for the chosen ones.
These couples usually wanted a baby, the more attractive the better, not some red-faced goblin, as one of the older children once described Venetia when she’d been a baby.
From red-faced goblin she grew into a quiet, reserved toddler who flatly refused to smile on demand at strangers in the hope they might like her and take her home with them.
She wasn’t much better when she turned five.
She was more than happy to stay where she was.
She liked it at Hope Hall. It was home for her, so why would she want to be anywhere else, living with strangers?
The older children shared frightening tales of children being put in cages and sent to live thousands of miles away in Australia, where they were put to work on farms where there were snakes and deadly spiders as big as dinner plates.
The stories gave her nightmares, and it wasn’t until Lady Constance winkled out of her what was worrying her that she was assured no child from Hope Hall would ever be sent to Australia.
Lady Constance Morton-Granger, to give the woman her full name, was well-known for being a wealthy philanthropist who, when she inherited Hope Hall in a dilapidated state, decided to put it to good use and turn it into a home for unwanted children.
It was to be a place of hope where they could feel loved and wanted and where they could be educated.
She made a point of always telling the children that each and every one of them was special in their own unique way.
It was Lady Constance who had given Venetia her implausibly posh name the night she was discovered on the doorstep.
The surname of Randall was given to her because Lady Constance had had a brother with that name to whom she’d been very close, but he had sadly died in the war.
A great believer in education, Lady Constance was determined that when it was time for the children to leave the home, they should leave fully equipped with the necessary skills to get on in life.
She was what was known as a progressive and believed that girls and boys should learn not just the three Rs, but how to cook and sew, as well as know their way around a set of woodworking tools.
She also instilled in them an appreciation of art and music as well as the Classics, literature and poetry.
She taught some of the classes herself and in all ways, she was a genuine tour de force.
The members of staff she employed were extremely loyal and stayed with her for years.
The other hugely important woman in Venetia’s life was Edie Buckle.
She came to work at the home as a nurse when Venetia was six years old.
She was a kindly, rosy-cheeked woman who made a fuss of all the children when they were ill, but she took a particular shine to Venetia, and not just when she was unwell.
Many a time when lessons were over, Venetia would slip upstairs to the sickroom just to be with Edie.
Years later, Venetia discovered what drove Edie to be the big-hearted woman she was.
She had lost her husband at Dunkirk and then her two children during the Blitz in London, but rather than give in to her grief, she assuaged it by devoting herself to the care of other children.
Venetia loved her dearly and there wasn’t anything she wouldn’t do for Edie.
Or Lady Constance for that matter. She was devoted to them both.
In time though, somebody else came into her life, somebody for whom she would also do anything. Which she did. But that was far off into the future. Until then, Hope Hall lived up to its name and really was a place of hope for her.
Not that Venetia told Cassie all of this while they were walking back to the Hall by the light of her torch and with Bon-Bon now safely concealed in her tote bag. The general picture was all that was required, just a few broad strokes to satisfy her young friend’s curiosity.