The Last Wolf (6 page)

She blinked up at him through the rain. ‘We don't really have any.'

‘But you could still write,' he persisted. ‘There is always something to say. And it would make my English more good.'

‘Better. Not more good. It's good, better, best.'

Damn and blast the English language! It caught him out every time. And
besser
was so close.

‘Of course, I remember this now. Good, better, best. Bad, worse, worst.'

‘And I'd make it worse. I'm rotten at writing letters.'

‘I do not believe this, Stroma. And you could correct my mistakes.'

He smiled down at her persuasively. He very much wanted her to like him, though there didn't seem any chance of it.

‘It's Stroma. Not Shtroma,' she said.

‘I am sorry. Strowmaaah.' He mocked her English pronunciation a little. ‘Now, let us see if you can say my name properly. Or perhaps you have forgotten it?'

‘No, I haven't.'

‘So, what is it?'

‘Reinhard.'

She pronounced the R in the flat English way, but at least she had remembered his name.

He persisted. ‘Then you will write to me, please?'

She was looking down at the deck now, not up at him, drawing a circle on the deck with her big toe and leaving a muddy mark which would not please his father.

‘Why?'

‘Because I would like you to.'

He saw her cheeks flush. She was still busy drawing circles, still refusing to look up.

‘Stroma? Will you?'

She shrugged. ‘I suppose so – if you really want me to.'

‘But I do not know your address in London, to send a letter.'

‘You can write to Craigmore. They'll forward it.'

‘Very well. And I will put my address in Hamburg for you to answer.'

The brother had already jumped ashore and was striding off, calling over his shoulder. ‘Come on, Stroma.'

She lifted her head then and he looked down at her, wondering how he could somehow keep her a little longer.

‘I must go,' she said. ‘I'm sorry.'

He did what he had been longing to do and picked her up, cradling her against him. He carried her from the deck across to the jetty where he set her down gently.

Her cheeks were bright pink now but she hadn't protested or struggled.
She likes me after all
, he realized, amazed.
She has forgiven me for being unsporting and she doesn't really believe that I am a spy. She likes me
. . .
as much as I like her. I'm sure of it.

‘So . . .' He took her small and dirty hand in his. ‘
Auf Wiedersehen
, Stroma.'

‘What does that mean?'

‘It means until we meet again.'

‘I don't suppose we ever will, do you?'

‘I hope so, very much. One day.'

When she tugged at her hand he had to let her go. He watched her running along the jetty and scrambling over the rocks. She turned to wave just once before she disappeared into the woods.

‘Did you notice anything suspicious?' Hamish asked as they climbed the hillside.

‘No.'

‘Didn't you see that German camera on the table in the cabin? It was a jolly expensive one.'

‘I expect they were taking pictures of scenery and things.'

‘I say, whose side are you on, Stroma?'

‘I'm not on anybody's side. I just don't think the Richters are spies. Anyway, Reinhard said he'd write to me. He wouldn't do that if he was a spy.'

‘Write to you?' Hamish stared at her. ‘What on earth for?'

The apartment in Hamburg had a fine view of the outer Alster. The leaves on the trees along the lake's edge were turning and some of them had already fallen to the ground. It would be the same in the woods above Glas Uig, Reinhard thought. The Green Cove would not be looking quite so green now.

Stroma and Hamish would have gone back to London and to their schools. He hoped that she liked her new school, after all.

It had been stupid of him not to ask for their home address in London, but he would send a letter to Craigmore and the grandparents would surely forward it on. He could tell her all about their journey back, when
Sturmwind
's rudder had broken halfway across the North Sea. They had managed to fix it up temporarily and had limped home, but it had not been at all easy. Even Father had been quite worried.

He would be sure to put his own address in Hamburg very clearly. Then, perhaps, she would write back.

18 January 1937

Dear Stroma,

Thank you for your letter. I was believing that you would never answer. I am glad to hear that you and Hamish are well, also all your family.

I was sorry to hear that you do not like your new school and I hope that you will like it better this term. (You see, I have not forgotten good, better, best.) Thank you for giving me the address, so that I can write to you there.

The weather is very kald here in Hamburg and we have had much snow. At Christmas (we call it Weihnachten) when we have had two weeks holidays, we have gone to the haus of friends at Kitzbühel in the mountains where we ski. I ski since I was four years old. I like to go very fast, of course. So does Bruno. We race each other. Do you and Hamish ski also?

I am very busy with study at school. I must do examinations now in January and more in July. Some are very difficult and I have to learn many things. It is important that I succeed so that I will be accepted by the Naval Academy. What subjects do you study?

I think often of Scotland and, most of all, of Craigmore and of Glas Uig, and of you. It would be very nice if we could return there next sommer with
Sturmwind
but, unfortunately, I do not think this will be possible as I must work with our National Labour Service before I go to the Naval Academy. I must help to build new roads and I will also be working in the forests and mountains. This is necessary for all jung men in Germany.

I am sorry that this letter is not very interesting. Next time I will tell you more news. Also, I hope there are not a lot of mistakes in my English. Please correct them. Do you have a photographie of yourself to send me? I should like to have one very much.

From,

Reinhard

24th February, 1937

Dear Reinhard,

I'm sorry I've taken so long to answer your letter but we hardly have any spare time at school. I still hate it here, by the way.

We are learning Latin (ugh) and we do Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Biology, as well as English, French, History and Geography, Scripture, Art and Sewing, and I do the piano as an extra. I looked up Hamburg in my atlas, to see where you live. This term we play netball, hockey and lacrosse. My favourite is lacrosse.

Hamish and I have never been skiing. It sounds fun. Some winters there can be lots of snow up in the mountains in Scotland but I don't think there are any proper ski lifts like you have on the Continent. We don't have any skis, anyway.

If you really want me to tell you, there were five spelling mistakes in your letter. It's cold, not kald; house, not haus; summer, not sommer; young, not jung; and photograph, not photographie. And if you were English, you'd probably say ‘I thought you'd never answer' and ‘we've had a lot of snow', and ‘at Christmas we went', not ‘we have gone', and you'd say ‘I've skied since I was four years old.' You got some other things a bit wrong, too, but I knew what you meant.

By the way, you have very nice handwriting. I wish I could write as well as that. Do they teach you at school?

I haven't got any photographs of me here, but I'll see if I can find one at home. We break up for the Easter holidays in three weeks, thank goodness. I wish we were going to Craigmore, but we will be stuck in London, worse luck.

From,

Stroma

12th March, 1937

Dear Stroma,

Thank you for your letter and for correcting my mistakes. Yes, I really do want you to tell me when I make them. And, yes, they teach us handwriting in school. We must always write very exactly.

I think you will soon be at home for the Easter holidays (we call this Ostern) and so I am sending this to your address in London. I also have a short holiday for Easter and I will finish at the High School in July, after I have done more exams.

The weather is warmer and we will be sailing
Sturmwind
again. First, we must clean her very well after the winter, and then we will go to sail out on the Baltic Sea. Bruno and I look forward to this. It will be very gud to be free from our studies.

What are you doing in London? There must be many things to see and I should like very much to visit there one day. We have interesting things in Hamburg, too. We have gud museums and historich buildings. There are some very old steamships in the harbour and also old barges on the canals. We have many canals and, of course, the River Elbe which is very important for the city. We can take a boot to England from the port. Perhaps one day I will do that.

Please do not forget to send a photograph of you (I spell it correctly this time).

Bruno and I give our best wishes to you and to Hamish.

From,

Reinhard

PS. When is your birthday?

17th April, 1937

Dear Reinhard,

Thank you for your letter. There isn't really any news to tell you at the moment. Hamish has gone away to stay with a friend from his school and I haven't done much except go to the zoo once in Regent's Park and read and practise the piano. I have to practise a lot because my piano teacher at school gave me a new piece to learn by heart in the holidays and she'll be furious if I haven't done it properly.

I went shopping with my mother, which was boring, and I've been to see friends in London, but we didn't do anything very interesting except go to the cinema and walk in the park.

Our cat, Delilah, had six kittens at the back of a kitchen cupboard. They're all black, like her, except one which is a ginger tom. We are going to keep him and find homes for the others. I wish we could keep them all because they're so sweet.

I go back to school for the summer term next week. We have to wear hideous brown and white frocks and a straw boater. We play tennis and rounders, and swim in the school pool (which is even colder than the lochs on Islay). Some of the girls play cricket. We have exams in July, like you.

You only had three spelling mistakes in your last letter. It's not ‘gud', it's ‘good'. Historic hasn't got an ‘h' on the end, and it's ‘boat', not ‘boot'. A boot is what you wear on your foot.

From,

Stroma.

PS. I'm afraid I couldn't find a photograph to send you. My birthday is on 15th May and I'll be thirteen. When is yours?

3rd June, 1937

Dear Stroma,

I hope you received the card that I sent you for your birthday and that you had a very happy day. Have you grown very much, now that you are thirteen?

Thank you for correcting my bad spelling. Please always do this or I shall never learn.

I hope you are liking the summer term at your school. We also play tennis and it is a game that I enjoy very much. Perhaps one day we can all have a tennis game instead of croquet. Also, we schwim and have races and diving competitions from a high platform. Bruno and I have both won several times in these competitions but I remember that when we played the croquet game you told me that winning doesn't matter, so perhaps I should not say this?

What name you have called the ginger kitten?

Soon I will have more examinations so I must work very hard. When they are finished, I will write to you again and I will send the letter to Craigmore so that you will receive it when you and Hamish arrive.

After I leave the High School, I will do my work for the National Labour Service that I already told you about, and, when that is finished, I hope I will go to the Naval Academy at Mürwik if I have passed all the examinations.

Please write to me if you have any time.

I forgot to say that my birthday was on 16th February. I was eighteen.

From,

Reinhard

2nd July, 1937

Dear Reinhard,

Thank you for your letter and for the birthday card you sent me. I hope you had a happy birthday in February.

We are revising for our exams and so I haven't much time to write now. Good luck with yours.

By the way, it's swim, not schwim. And I don't mind you saying about winning competitions, so long as you don't go on about it, or get cross if you lose.

We've called the kitten Kipper.

From,

Stroma

PS. I've grown about three inches.

26th July, 1937

Dear Stroma,

I have now finished all my examinations and must wait for the results.

Soon I will have to start my National Labour Service and I am not looking forward to this very much.

The weather is very hot in Hamburg now but last week we went sailing in
Sturmwind
on the Baltic Sea and it was very pleasant to be away from the city. I am sorry that we will not be able to sail to Scotland again this year. Perhaps it will be possible next year. I hope this very much.

This week we went to a concert in Hamburg and listened to Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, as well as some other music. It was a very good evening, but I liked even better listening to you and your grandmother play the Chopin piano pieces at Craigmore. I always remember this. Did you finish learning your new holiday piece for your teacher? Was it also composed by Chopin?

Kipper is a very good name for a ginger cat. In German, we say
Raucherhering
for smoked herring, which would not be nearly so good.

Bruno sends you and Hamish his best wishes. We hope you have a happy holiday at Craigmore. Please write and tell me about it.

From,

Reinhard

10th August, 1937

Dear Reinhard,