The start of the Journey

"But Tally was beyond help. She would rather have gone into a lion's den than into one of those compartments." Pg.27

This is about the beginning of Tally's journey. I believe this quote represents the starting of the journey because, this is the point where Tally's aunts and father are sending her off to Delderton, a boarding school in South Devon. She is being sent away because the people of London smell war coming towards them, for Hitler was thundering from city to city in Europe and they were next. So when Tally's father (Dr.Hamilton) cured an ill professor, the professor offered a scholarship to Delderton, and Dr.Hamilton took the chance.
Now when they finally find the right train they observe that not very descent people were hopping on to the train. They had no uniforms unlike all the schools boarding on, and they weren't in great conditions. It was not like Tally was rich but at this point of time, it seemed like learning from the nuns was better.