Some thirty-five or forty years on I returned to Water End to be its last headmistress. The American general hospital had been opened as a temporary housing estate and we welcomed little girls and boys from Islington and elsewhere. As the months went by we all settled happily together. Greeted one morning with "Oh, you should see Brenda’s hands. They are covered in ‘delible pencil," a quick glance at Brenda’s hands explained the marks. "It’s all right. She’s been to the doctor to get rid of her warts." Wide-eyed astonishment from my "locals." "Why? She should go to Mr. Capes, shouldn’t she?"

I had forgotten Mr. Capes and his special ability, but it was still well known to many who had "consulted" him with success.

Dorothy Colville, 1971