Even more so if you actually had been a VAD. Almost ten years on and it was all about nostalgia, girls who were eighteen, nineteen, only children during the war, dressed up as nurses. Ellen, one of the girls in the office, had spotted an advertisement for a party near Oxford Street – and when Celia told them she’d been an ambulance driver, well, then they were quite delighted. ‘You must come!’ they said. ‘You can tell us exactly what to do as well!’ ‘Check our outfits!’ said Mary. Celia had only been out with them once before. When she’d got the job a few weeks after returning to London, Mr Ellerton had told her that she should hold herself apart from them, since she was the one who was supposed to be in charge. ‘You need to maintain a little distance,’ he said. ‘Tempting as it may be to accept their offer of friendship.’ Celia had agreed, immediately. While she’d been away, Mr Penderstall had taken on another girl to do her work – and liked her so much he kept her.
