The FitzOsbornes at War (7 page)

‘Well . . .’ she said slowly. ‘I quite
like
trains, actually. I never normally get to go in them.’

‘And then, getting off at a railway station I’d never seen before! Of course, a teacher will be waiting to take you up to the school, so it’s not as though you’ll get lost.’

‘I wouldn’t get lost, anyway,’ said Henry. ‘I could take my compass and I know all about reading maps, from being a Girl Guide.’

‘And they did say that all the prefects know you’re coming,’ I continued, ‘and one of them specially volunteered to show you round after she heard that you liked horses, because apparently she’s won lots of ribbons for show jumping. But still, imagine meeting such a lot of new people! It would be like when all the Basque refugee children arrived. I felt a bit nervous beforehand, didn’t you?’

‘No, of course not,’ she said. ‘Why were you nervous? I couldn’t
wait
to meet them, and they were all so much fun, especially Carmelita. Remember when she and I had that archery competition, and I
almost
got the bullseye, and she said, “Oh, there’s no way I can get closer than that!”, except her next arrow landed right on top of mine and
broke
it –’ And Henry continued reminiscing, getting further and further away from the point of the conversation. I eventually interrupted.

‘Oh, and that reminds me,’ I said. ‘You must write to Carmelita and tell her all about your new school. You know how much she loves
her
school.’

‘Yes,’ said Henry. ‘I know. But hers is different. It isn’t a boarding school, is it?
She
didn’t have to move away from home.’

‘That’s true,’ I said. ‘I really do admire how brave you’re being about that.’

‘I am a
fairly
brave person,’ conceded Henry. ‘Usually. But it’s not that I mind for
myself
. It’s about leaving poor Carlos and Estella all alone.’

‘Oh, Henry!’ I said. ‘Estella loves living at the Home Farm with the other pigs, and you know how well Mr Wilkin treats them. They’re the most spoilt pigs in the county.’

‘But . . . but what about
Carlos
?’ Henry said, and her eyes suddenly filled with tears. ‘It would be different if you and Veronica and Toby were there – but there’ll be no one to look after him!’

I put my arm around her and, for once, she allowed me to console her. ‘I know he’ll miss you,’ I said, as she sniffled a bit. ‘Of course he will – he’s such a faithful dog. But the kitchen maids all adore him, and they’re usually the ones who feed him, aren’t they? And he always keeps himself busy, chasing rabbits, and swimming in the lake, and visiting his friends in the village.’

‘I suppose Jocko will still be there,’ she said. ‘And Mrs Jones at the vicarage – I mean, she ended up keeping two of the puppies, so she must really like dogs. And I’ve seen Barnes talking to Carlos, sometimes.’

‘Even Aunt Charlotte has a soft spot for him,’ I said, ‘except when he tracks mud inside the house. But Henry, you’re talking as though you’re going away forever! There are holidays halfway through each term
and
in between terms, and then for the entire summer. Carlos will barely have time to miss you before you’re back at Milford.’

‘I suppose so,’ she said. ‘But Sophie –’ Then she stopped and chewed her lip.

‘What?’ I said.

‘Well . . . what about the
school
part of it? In books, schoolboys are always getting into trouble for not doing their prep or getting answers wrong in class. Sometimes they get
caned
for it.’

By ‘books’, I assumed Henry meant those awful twopenny boys’ weeklies that she and Jocko buy at the village shop. ‘Girls are never caned,’ I said firmly.

‘But what if I can’t do the work?’ Henry persisted. ‘What if Miss Bullock didn’t teach me the right things? Or anything, really.’

I was tempted to point out that Henry’s failure to learn had not been entirely Miss Bullock’s fault. However, Henry’s fundamental honesty came to the fore.

‘Of course, I could have tried harder,’ she admitted. ‘But even if I
had
– I bet all those girls at school will still know loads more than me about arithmetic and French and those sorts of things.’

‘I don’t think they will,’ I said. In fact, I had a strong suspicion the school had been chosen precisely for its unacademic reputation (Aunt Charlotte detests bluestockings). ‘The headmistress said there are lots of new pupils who hadn’t been to school at all before this term, so you won’t be the only one.’

I pulled away to look my little sister in the eye, uncomfortably aware that she was now an inch taller than me. ‘Henry, listen to me. If it’s really unbearable – if someone’s being horrible to you or you get terribly homesick – I
promise
that Veronica or I will try to sort things out. You just have to write and tell us. We’ll telephone the headmistress, or visit you, or do whatever we can to make it better. But I’m counting on you to be really grown-up about this, to try your best to get along with everyone, to do your work and be sensible. There’s a war on now, and we all have to do our bit.’

‘I will,’ she said, nodding solemnly.

‘And you have to promise that you won’t run away from this place,’ I said. ‘Because if you suddenly go missing, we’ll worry about where you are.’

She considered this for a moment. ‘But what if the Germans invade and I
have
to run away because they’ve taken over the school?’

‘They aren’t going to invade an enormous country like this. Remember, Britain’s got an army and navy and air force to stop them. But
if
it looks as though the Germans might invade, I want you to do whatever your teachers tell you, until we can come and collect you – which we
will
.’

‘All right, then,’ Henry said, after further thought. ‘I promise. Do you want me to swear a blood oath? Because I brought my penknife with me, it’s in my suitcase –’

‘That won’t be necessary,’ I said hastily.

‘All right,’ she said. ‘Oh – and Sophie!’

‘What?’

‘As I’m practically a grown-up now, can I come with you and Veronica to visit Julia this afternoon? Please? Because I haven’t seen her for absolute ages, and I’ve never been to her house.’

I didn’t have enough energy left to argue about it, so we took her with us.

‘Henry!’ cried Julia. ‘Each time I set eyes upon you, you look more and more like your gorgeous brother!’

Henry glowed. ‘Did you know I’m
thirteen
now?’ she said, as Julia took our coats.

‘No, I didn’t,’ Julia said. ‘Darling, you
are
getting old. But I do wish you’d stop growing, you make Sophie and me feel awfully short. Now, come into my sitting room – I was just doing some sewing. This wretched blackout! I had to pack away all my lovely sheer silk curtains, but look, I found this very heavy, dark blue velvet and I’m sewing silver stars onto it. See? When I draw the curtains after dusk, it will be as though we’re outside on a clear night. Well, I say “we”, even though I’ve been completely abandoned by everyone, including most of the servants. Rupert’s just left, actually, off doing his super-secret job in Cornwall this week. He
will
be sorry to have missed you –’

‘How’s Anthony?’ I asked quickly, before Julia could start teasing me about Rupert (she’s worse than Barnes, sometimes).

Julia sighed and shook her head. ‘Oh, the poor
darling
. He still hasn’t got over the Soviets signing that treaty with the Nazis. He feels awfully conflicted, going off to war, knowing he’s on the opposite side to the Communists. Thank Heavens we aren’t actually
fighting
the Communists yet . . . or fighting anyone, really. That’s what I don’t understand. I mean, didn’t we declare war because Germany invaded Poland? But what have we done to help the poor old Poles? We just seem to be sitting back, watching them get annihilated in this awful blitzkrieg.’

‘I suppose the Allies are conserving their resources for when the Germans march into France,’ said Veronica. ‘Or whichever country they’re planning to invade next.’

‘Oh, Veronica, don’t say that! I don’t even want to
think
about poor Ant going into battle. Can you imagine it? He wouldn’t hurt a fly. Although I must say, he’s loving the actual aeroplanes in the air force. All his letters are about how marvellously fast they are, and how well they turn, and something about g-forces, whatever they are. I’m just hoping he’ll get a job training pilots and spend the rest of the war doing that, but of course, he’ll want to do his brave bit if the time comes. How’s Toby?’

Henry explained about Toby having finished his fortnight of marching drills and lectures, and how he’d been specially selected to train as a fighter pilot. ‘And Julia, he wears a
uniform
now!’

‘He must look divine in that,’ said Julia. ‘What
is
it about men and uniforms? Even Ant looks debonair in one. And what’s Simon up to?’

‘He’s in Leicestershire doing basic training,’ I said.

‘Your aunt must miss
him
, as well,’ said Julia. ‘Wasn’t he practically running her household? And that reminds me – I saw her in Bond Street yesterday and she was
very
cutting. What on Earth have I done now?’

‘She’s probably still furious that Toby’s in love with you,’ Veronica said dryly.

‘He’s
what
?’

‘He’s not really,’ Henry said. ‘He only pretended to be, because Aunt Charlotte wanted him to marry that horrible Lady Helena. He told Aunt Charlotte that he was pining away because you were already married, and if he couldn’t marry you, he wouldn’t marry anyone. He’s not
actually
in love with you.’ Henry peered at Julia, who was almost crying with laughter by this stage. ‘He’s quite
fond
of you, though,’ Henry hastened to assure Julia.

‘Oh dear,’ said Julia, dabbing at her eyes. ‘He really might have warned me. Your poor old aunt! She probably thinks I led him on with come-hither stares and slinky, low-cut evening gowns . . . Well, I suppose it’s no use asking you girls to come and live here in my Den of Debauchery now.’

‘No, she’d never give us permission,’ I said sadly. I adore Julia’s house.

‘And it’s such a waste, all these rooms empty!’ she said. ‘Of course, Mummy wants me to close up the house and move back to Astley, but I couldn’t bear it. She’d have me rolling bandages all day, or knitting balaclavas, or whatever it is the Women’s Institute ladies do down there . . . Henry, darling, would you run downstairs and see if Mrs Timms has made us that pot of tea yet? And there might be some biscuits, too. You could help her carry it all up.’

Once Henry had bounded off, Julia added, ‘Besides, if I went back to Astley, I’d have to put up with endless lectures from Mummy about how I ought to have a baby to keep me occupied while Ant’s away. She doesn’t seem to realise that might be a bit difficult when he’s off in Scotland – I sometimes wonder whether my poor mother understands the Facts of Life. And as if anyone would
want
to have a child when we’re at
war
and no one knows what’s going to happen! So, I really do have to find some sort of job here in London. What do you think I ought to do? I did consider the Wrens or the WAAF, but then, I could get posted
anywhere
, couldn’t I? And I might not get leave at the same time as Ant, and we’d never see each other. Oh, and that reminds me – you know Lady Bosworth’s daughter, the horsey one? She’s just joined the Mechanised Transport Corps! I ran into her as she was marching out of the recruiting office this morning. I expect she’ll end up a captain or something. Can’t you just see her, ordering people about?’

‘Lady Bosworth will be unbearably smug about it,’ said Veronica. ‘Well – more so than usual.’

‘Yes, but Veronica, it’s excellent news for
us
,’ I said, sitting up straighter. ‘Don’t you see? The first thing Lady Bosworth will do now is go round to Aunt Charlotte and brag about how Cynthia is rushing to the aid of her country, carrying on a noble tradition of patriotic service, and so forth. It’s the perfect time for us to tell Aunt Charlotte what
we
want to do. We’ll just say we can’t bear to allow others to take on all the responsibility for winning the war, and we absolutely
must
be in London to do our bit. Anyway, typing letters at the War Office is far more ladylike than driving lorries or whatever it is Cynthia’s going to do – it’ll make a secretarial course seem all the more acceptable to Aunt Charlotte.’