Passions of War (6 page)

Ralph sunk to his knees with his head in his hands. Tom grabbed him by the arm and pulled him up.

‘What have I done?' he cried. ‘I meant to knock his arm up. Are they both dead?'

‘I don't know,' Tom said. ‘Perhaps not. They were both still upright. Maybe the wounds were not fatal.'

Princip was being dragged away, writhing and vomiting in the same manner as Cabrinovic. Tom looked at Ralph. He was deadly pale and shaking. ‘Come on. We're going to the station. If we can't get on a train to Belgrade we'll catch the first one that comes along. The sooner we get out of this place the better.'

Four

On June 29 the following headline appeared on page eight of the London
Times
:

AUSTRIAN HEIR AND HIS WIFE MURDERED

SHOT IN BOSNIAN TOWN

Five hours later a telegram arrived at the hotel in Belgrade to which Tom and Ralph had returned that morning. Addressed to Ralph it read:
Leonora seriously ill. Imperative you return immediately. Victoria

When the two men reached Sussex Gardens, weary and travel-stained after three days and nights with little rest, they found Leo fully dressed, sitting at her writing desk in the morning room. Tom hurried towards her.

‘Leo! What are you doing? Why aren't you in bed?'

Leo stood up and took his hand. ‘I'm sorry, Tom. I'm afraid I deceived you. But I had good reason.'

‘Deceived!' her brother broke in. ‘Do you mean you're not ill? What was that telegram all about? Was it some kind of a joke? I bet that Langford woman was behind it.'

‘Victoria sent the telegram,' Leo agreed. ‘But it was my idea.'

‘I don't understand,' Tom said. ‘Why?'

‘Have you any idea what you have put us through?' Ralph demanded. ‘We have had a horrendous journey. Everyone is trying to get out of Serbia. There were no berths left on the Orient Express from Belgrade. We had to travel third class on a local train as far as Vienna, sitting up all night. Then when we picked up the Express there, it was packed. The whole of Europe seems to be on the move.'

‘To say nothing of our anxiety about you.' Tom put it quietly.

‘Well, that too, of course,' Ralph added.

‘I know,' Leo said, squeezing Tom's hand. ‘And I really am sorry. But as soon as I saw the headline in the paper I knew it was vital to get you out of Serbia as quickly as possible. It was the only way I could think of to make sure you got leave straight away, Ralph.'

‘But what made you think we needed to get out?' her brother asked.

‘It seems to me that Austria and Serbia could be at war at any moment and then it would be almost impossible for you to travel. And Tom told me you were mixed up with this Black Hand gang. It was them, wasn't it, behind the assassination? So if the Austrians demand that they are handed over to justice . . . I mean, I know you couldn't have been really involved, but I just thought . . .'

Ralph and Tom looked at each other and suddenly they both laughed. Ralph put his arm round Leo's shoulders. ‘Oh, little Sis, you don't know the half of it! Shall I tell her, Tom, or will you?'

Over the next weeks the whole country was gripped by frenzied speculation about the possibility of war. Ralph summarized the situation succinctly.

‘If Austria declares war on Serbia the Serbs will invoke the mutual defence treaty they have with Russia. France has treaty obligations to Russia, and we have agreements with the French that commit us. And the Germans are itching for a fight so that will be all the excuse they need to come in on the Austrian side.'

‘And the whole of Europe is plunged into chaos,' Leo said.

‘It might not be a bad thing, in the long run,' Ralph declared. ‘It's time the Germans were put in their place.'

That seemed to be the general view in the country and Leo felt increasingly that only she and Victoria and a few others who had seen war at first-hand understood the implications. One of the voices raised against the prevailing mood belonged to someone they knew well. Mabel Stobart, the founder of the Women's Sick and Wounded Convoy, with whom they had worked in Bulgaria, had returned from Canada and involved herself in local politics, becoming a councillor for Hampstead Garden Suburb. Leo and Victoria had kept in touch and been invited to her home on several occasions, where they met several other influential women who were all opposed to war, but their voices were drowned by the increasingly bellicose chorus.

On 23 July the Austrians sent an ultimatum to Serbia, demanding among other things that a full investigation into those responsible for the assassination should be carried out by Austrian police officers on Serbian territory. The newspapers reported that Serbia was mobilizing troops but on the 27 July
The
Times
carried an article detailing the Serb reply, which accepted all the Austrian demands except one. The following day Austria declared war on Serbia.

Leo followed these developments with anguish, knowing that Sasha was bound to be at the forefront of the fighting. When the papers reported on 29 July that the first shells had fallen on Belgrade she wept helplessly, not only for him but for all the friends she had made there. She remembered them as cultivated and courteous people, with great warmth and zest for life, but also an intense pride in their nation and its history and she knew that they would fight to the last man.

On 3 August the news came that Germany had declared war on France and invaded Belgium.

On 4 August Leo received a note from Mabel Stobart, asking her to attend a meeting in the Kingsway Hall which was billed as ‘Women's Protest Against War'. Arriving with Victoria, she discovered that the hall was packed and a number of the women she had met at Stobart's house were on the platform, together with representatives from Finland, Hungary and Switzerland. Stobart was one of the speakers, forcefully putting forward the point of view that the two younger women had often heard her express in Bulgaria – that war was a barbarity and an expression of the double standards of morality which prevailed for men and women; that while women were expected to nurture and protect, men were allowed to kill and destroy. A resolution, passed unanimously, declared that ‘Whatever its results, the conflict will leave mankind the poorer, will set back civilization, and will be a powerful check to the amelioration of the conditions of the masses of people on which the real welfare of nations depends'.

As the meeting broke up news arrived from the Palace of Westminster that the government had decided to declare war on Germany and her allies. Leo and Victoria were standing with Mrs Stobart when it arrived and they were immediately approached by a woman they knew as Lady Muir McKenzie, a prominent peace activist.

‘What will your plans be now?' she asked Mrs Stobart.

‘I have always believed,' was the reply, ‘that women can and should take an active part in national defence, but in the relief of suffering and care for the wounded.'

‘Then I will support any efforts you make in setting up women's units for that purpose,' Lady Muir McKenzie responded.

‘And you can count on us to join you,' Leo added.

As they drove away, Victoria said, ‘I don't think you should have promised to join Stobart. We're FANYs first and foremost. I know we went off to join Stobart's lot two years ago, but that was because the FANY weren't involved.'

‘And what makes you think this time will be any different?' Leo asked.

‘It has to be!' Victoria exclaimed. ‘Otherwise, what is the point of all the training we've done?'

‘Ashley-Smith isn't even around to take charge,' Leo pointed out. ‘She has gone off to South Africa to see her sister.'

‘Never mind. Franklin will do what's necessary. After all, we've got Sir Arthur Sloggett, the Chief Commissioner of the Red Cross, on our side now. You remember how impressed the surgeon general was when he inspected us last summer camp. He got Ash an interview with Sir Arthur and she said she felt convinced he would find a use for us if the time ever came.'

‘Well, it's come now,' Leo said, ‘but I'm not so sure that attitudes have changed that much.'

Leo found more urgent concerns waiting for her when she reached home. Beavis handed her a note.
All leave cancelled. We are to hold ourselves ready to embark for France at a moment's notice. Will try to get home to say goodbye if possible. Don't worry about me. It will all be over in a few weeks. Take care of yourself. Love, Ralph.

Leo could imagine her brother making his preparations, excited, nervous perhaps but eager to find himself doing what he had trained for all these years, and the image made her choke with distress. Although at twenty-three he was two years older he seemed such an innocent with his bright self-confidence, and she knew he was destined to be horribly disillusioned. She could not share his belief that the war would be over so soon and now it seemed to her that everyone she cared for was about to be swept up in its chaos.

Her breakfast next morning was disturbed by the sound of music and cheering. She rang for Millie, newly promoted to parlour maid, and asked her what was going on.

‘It's the soldiers, miss!' the girl told her, her face flushed with excitement. ‘The streets are full of people cheering them as they march off to the war.'

Leo was scanning the newspapers in the morning room when Beavis announced, ‘Mr Devenish, madam.'

Glancing up, she had a momentary illusion that Beavis had gone mad and announced the wrong man, as she saw khaki breeches ending in polished boots with spurs. Raising her eyes she realized that she was the one who was mistaken.

‘Tom?' She got up quickly, unable for a moment to find words. ‘What have you done?'

‘I've joined up,' he said. It was a statement of fact, without emotion.

‘But why? You hate the idea of war, as much as I do. What ever possessed you?'

He came closer to her. ‘It isn't quite what you think. I'm going to be a war artist.'

‘Is there such a thing?'

‘Apparently. I had a letter from a man called Charles Masterman, asking me to go and see him. It seems he came to my exhibition and was favourably impressed. Now he has been appointed head of the War Propaganda Bureau.'

‘Propaganda?' Leo said doubtfully.

‘I know what you are thinking. I told him I was not prepared to be the tool of some government machine churning out pictures to glorify war. He said that isn't what he wants. He wants pictures that show the reality of war, so that people at home will understand what the troops are going through. That seemed to me to be an honourable endeavour.'

‘Of course it is,' Leo responded warmly. ‘But was it necessary to join up to do that?'

‘It seems I couldn't be given access to what is happening at the front unless I'm in uniform. And I felt I had to do something, Leo. I can't sit at home in safety while Ralph and men like him face the danger. Anyway, I suspect it won't be long before none of us has any choice in the matter.'

‘Conscription, you mean?'

‘It's bound to come, in my opinion.' He smiled at her. ‘And there is a bonus to doing it this way. They are making me a second lieutenant and I was asked which regiment I wanted to be attached to. So, obviously I said Second Battalion, the Coldstream Guards.'

‘Ralph's battalion!'

‘Exactly. So I'll be able to keep an eye on him, at the same time as making my pictures.'

‘And he can keep an eye on you,' Leo said.

‘Either way, we'll be together.'

She took his hand. ‘That's something, at least. It's the only bright spot I can see in all this horror.'

He nodded and pressed her fingers. ‘There's one more thing I want to talk to you about. This engagement of ours . . . We both know it was a matter of convenience, for both of us, and up to a point it has served its purpose. But now . . .' he hesitated, ‘now I think it may be time to . . . well, wipe the slate clean and start afresh. God knows how long this war will last, and it's entirely possible that I may not survive.' She made to protest but he silenced her with a quick gesture. ‘Let's be realistic, Leo. What I am trying to say is this: I don't want you to be tied to a spurious engagement that was never intended to result in a marriage. You should be free.'

‘Free?' she queried. ‘Free for what – for whom? You know where my heart is.'

‘Come and sit down a moment.' He drew her towards a sofa and she sat beside him. ‘There's something I haven't told you. When I went to Belgrade I called on the Malkovics.'

‘You saw Sasha!'

‘No. He was with the army in Macedonia. But I was received by the countess.'

‘I always liked Sasha's mother. How is she? Had she heard from him?'

He shook his head slowly. ‘It wasn't the dowager countess. It was the new one.'

For a moment she was puzzled. ‘The new one?' Then it hit her. ‘Sasha's married. Of course, I should have known.' She removed her hand from Tom's and pressed her palms together. She knew it was foolish to feel hurt, but the news had reopened a wound she thought had begun to heal. ‘He said it couldn't be delayed much longer, but I hadn't realized it would happen this quickly. When did the wedding take place?'

‘At Easter. But, if it's any comfort, Sasha left for the front almost immediately.'

She glanced sideways at him, wondering what the implication of that comment was. ‘What is she like, his . . . wife?'

‘Very young: almost a child.'

‘He said she was eighteen.'

‘She may be, but she looks and sounds much younger than that. Oh, she carried out her duties as a hostess perfectly, but it was like a schoolgirl repeating a lesson. And she is very pale and thin – not strong, I imagine.'

Leo nodded silently, despising herself for the flicker of hope that news had ignited. She took a deep breath and forced herself to say, ‘Thank you for telling me. But it doesn't make any difference to what we were discussing before. I have no wish to be “free”, as you put it. But at least this resolves the problem of finding excuses to delay the wedding. Let us just say that we have decided it would be better not to make any irrevocable commitments until the war is over.'