Sarah's search for Dinah Singleton

Sarah Trafford’s search for Dinah Singleton leads her and Joe Silvermann to an orphanage in Littleton, Surrey, where the hope of finding records turns into a confrontation. The visit gives Sarah a specific place to investigate and a possible connection to Gerard Inchon, but it does not deliver the access or answers she seeks. Her parting insistence that they will return makes the search an ongoing challenge rather than a completed inquiry.

The Search Leads to Littleton

The destination emerges through practical investigation: Littleton, a small place in Surrey, is identified first, and then the institution there is clarified as an orphanage rather than a hospital. That distinction turns a vague lead into a plausible point in Sarah’s search for Dinah. The location offers the possibility of records, but no evidence yet that the orphanage will readily provide them.

Sarah has been waiting for replies to letters she sent the previous week, and none have arrived. With little else to do, she makes another move. Rather than accept an offered ladder, she judges it safer to seek professional help. Her arrangement is deliberately indirect: she asks the private detective whether he does garden work for four pounds an hour, without lying or making false promises. After Wigwam leaves, Sarah calls again and asks Joe to take a look. The small deception of form disguises no false claim; it is a way of securing assistance while the search remains uncertain.

At the Orphanage

The building is striking but neglected. Its towers, crenellations, and projecting round turrets make it resemble a structure designed by a child, while rain streaks, patches of moss, and an air of chill undercut any impression of grandeur. Sarah reaches for old-fashioned language to describe its condition; the building’s theatrical outline and visible wear sit uneasily together. The setting makes the institution feel imposing without suggesting that it is well kept or welcoming.

The pair arrive with little idea of what they will do once there. Sarah’s purpose, however, is definite: she wants to explore and find records or files. Joe responds sceptically to the prospect that anyone will simply let them look. The contrast establishes the limits of the visit before those limits are enforced: Sarah has a question and a destination, but no stated authority to inspect the institution’s records.

Gerard Inchon and the Confrontation

When the visit fails to yield a clear path forward, Sarah turns to the institution’s connection with Gerard Inchon. She tells Father Sullivan that Gerard is a benefactor and says she knows him through friends, naming the Singletons. This links the orphanage to the family whose child she is searching for, but the exchange does not establish what Gerard’s role has been or what he knows about Dinah. The connection is a lead Sarah presses, not an answer the scene confirms.

Father Sullivan tells Sarah and Joe to leave immediately. Sarah does not attempt to disguise her anger or accept the order as the end of the inquiry. She says they will be back and directs the priest to pass on her message to Gerard Inchon. The weather outside is calm, but the narration sets that stillness against Sarah’s inner agitation, rendered as storms, hurricanes, and summer madness. Her departure is therefore not a retreat from the search: it carries a threat of return.

Significance in the Search

The episode shifts Sarah’s investigation from waiting for correspondence to pursuing a physical lead with Joe at her side. It establishes both the promise and the obstruction of the orphanage: it may hold the records she wants, yet the visit ends before she can examine them. Gerard Inchon’s apparent connection gives Sarah another person to confront, while the priest’s expulsion sharpens her resolve. The search advances not through a recovered file or confirmed revelation, but through a destination found, a possible connection named, and Sarah’s refusal to let the encounter close the matter.