The Novel in the Viola (26 page)

‘Yes. Perhaps he ought,’ I said.

He’s mine, I thought, and we both heard me say the words, even though I did not speak them aloud.

May arrived with apple blossom, bluebells on the cliffs, kisses before bedtime and thirty million pounds worth of Bank of England gold travelling in two warships to Canada for safekeeping. The cuckoos called from the dark woods, the Tyneford gardeners planted cabbages in neat rows, and the men debated when the call-up would be announced, while Mr Wrexham fretted as to the havoc such absences would inflict upon his meticulous staff plan. Each evening Kit and Mr Rivers discussed strategies for obtaining exit visas for my parents. While I did not dine with the men, I was permitted to join them afterwards and pour the coffee. Placing the gleaming pot back on the tray, and taking a square of bitter chocolate, I settled beside Kit as he lolled into me, resting his blond head on my shoulders.

‘Let them say “no” to me in person,’ said Mr Rivers, who had grown tired of the polite but ambivalent letters from the German embassy: ‘
We profoundly regret . . . humble apologies . . . minor delay . . . by Easter . . . before Michaelmas . . .
’

‘I am tired of all this stalling. I’ve made an appointment at the embassy. I’ll speak to them and see if we can’t sort out this nonsense,’ he said, confident in his belief that two reasonable chaps in a room together may quickly find an amiable resolution. I could not explain to him that German bureaucrats were neither reasonable nor amiable in the true British sense.

‘I’ll come with you,’ said Kit.

‘Yes, and I will too.’

I felt my palms itch at the possibility of looking the enemy in the eye – I’d see if I could make him flinch. I longed to do something to help Anna and Julian. I was exhausted by my impotence.

Mr Rivers frowned. ‘Kit, come if you wish. Elise, it would be best if you did not. Your presence will not help matters.’

‘They are my family.’

‘And if you want to help them, then you will stay behind. I doubt if the embassy officials will even speak with you,’ said Mr Rivers.

Frustration bloomed into anger. ‘Because I’m a Jew. I am so tired of it. It’s all I am anymore and I don’t even know what it means. I eat pork and I hate God. But that’s all I am to them. And to you, Mr Rivers. Elise mustn’t marry Kit because she’s a bloody Jew.’

The two men looked at me, shocked at my outburst. I supposed it wasn’t how nice English girls behaved, and it certainly wasn’t expected from reprieved housemaids. I knew I ought to burst into tears to lessen the effect of my rudeness but I was far too angry.

‘I won’t apologise,’ said Mr Rivers. ‘I am trying to do the best for your family. All I ask is that you both wait a short while. You are both very young.’

Now I did want to cry. ‘I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.’

Excusing myself, I slipped outside into the cool of the garden. Alone on the terrace, I was overcome with embarrassment and disgusted at how ungrateful I must appear.

Mr Rivers, however, did not bear grudges and he smiled at me as, slightly hesitant, I returned to the drawing room some time later.

‘Come,’ he said. ‘Let us shake hands. Friends are allowed to quarrel.’

Solemnly we shook, and I settled myself on a footstool beside the fire.

‘Now,’ said Kit. ‘Everything is arranged. We’re going tomorrow. Is there anything you would like from town? Something for Mrs Landau, perhaps?’

Tears pricked my eyes, conscious that they were both being much kinder than I deserved. ‘Well, if you’re quite sure. Anna loves scented bath salts.’

Kit grinned. ‘Expect I can stretch to that. Anything else?’

‘Hildegard always used to fill her drawers with little sachets of rosebuds and lavender.’

‘Consider it done. I shall go to Liberty’s. They shall instantly pin me as a man in love, asking for such things.’

‘And Mr Landau? What does he drink?’ asked Mr Rivers. ‘Wrexham keeps an excellent cellar. But if there is some continental spirit?’

I smiled. ‘Thank you. You are both so kind. Julian is not particular. He likes any kind of red wine. He’s not partial to spirits.’

Actually, he referred to the ‘continental spirits’ of schnapps or kirsch favoured by the great-aunts as ‘old hen’s poison’. I stretched before the fire, conscious of the generosity of the two men. I knew I was deeply lucky. Most girls in my position considered themselves fortunate to receive a kind word from the master of the house. Goodness knew, I did not deserve it. And yet with the exception of that night’s outburst, I had noticed that the men were easier with each other when I was in their company. There was no awkward intimacy, no need to speak directly to one another; instead they could tell me about Tyneford, the history of the house and its previous inhabitants: grandmother Julie who was so terrified of dogs that she fainted upon seeing a fox on the hill; Uncle Max who preferred dogs to people, especially to his catty wife. With a comfortable third in the room, father and son appeared to take indirect pleasure in one another’s company. They could talk without talking. Their dinners became shorter and shorter, until I had barely finished my lonely soup when Mr Wrexham came calling for me to come into the drawing room and pour the coffee.

‘Shall we play a hand of cards?’ Mr Rivers enquired.

Kit fidgeted and stretched. ‘No. Not tonight.’

‘Shall I make you some toast on the fire?’ I suggested.

Kit snapped upright. ‘Yes. Splendid.’

I rang the bell and asked Mr Wrexham to bring bread, butter and the toasting fork from Mrs Ellsworth’s room. When he returned, I knelt before the simmering coals, piercing a thick slice of bread upon the prongs and held it out over the heat. The bread darkened to a golden brown, smouldering gently. The warmth made my cheeks rosy. Kit crept up behind me and crouched on the hearth, while Mr Rivers fiddled with the gramophone, so that the room filled with the running peals of Chopin’s Nocturne in F Minor
.

‘It’s a little smoky in here,’ I said, and Kit stood up to open the window.

A trickle of cool air flowed into the room along with the boom of the distant sea, a bass orchestra to accompany the Chopin. I looked at the firelight reflected on their faces and knew that I was forgiven, the quarrel already forgotten. I did not know then that this was one of the happiest moments of my life. I was warm and loved and as the music rippled around me, I knew the best was yet to come. But it is in our nature to be always looking away.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Black dogs and white gloves

June blazed into July. Dragonflies flitted across the village pond, their wings a shimmering, iridescent green, humming like miniature aircraft. Kit disappeared to Cambridge to take his exams and reappeared a fortnight later having passed with a respectable 2:2. Mr Rivers hid his disappointment behind a bottle of 1928 Veuve Clicquot. We sipped and toasted and I would have been content, if it wasn’t for the ever present worry about my parents. Each morning, I paced the blue room, which had been prepared for their arrival: curtains freshly laundered, lavender bags sweetening the drawers, crystal scent bottles displayed upon the dressing table. I closed my eyes and imagined Anna stretched out on the bed in her cotton pyjamas waiting for me to bring her morning coffee, while Julian, robed in his dressing gown, scribbled in one of his leather notebooks beside the window. The minute they arrived, the last few months would be transformed into a game, everything simple and happy in hindsight; a fairy tale ending in a reunion and, in a year, a summer wedding upon the lawn. I wondered whether Margot and Robert would arrive in time for my sister to be maid of honour.

On the last day of July, Mr Wrexham came into the yard where I was helping Art brush down Mr Bobbin. He proffered a letter on his silver tray.

‘Miss Landau.’

I seized it and tore it open.

Darling Bean,

The visa has come! It has come. I can’t quite believe it, but here it is in my hands. We are coming. Really and truly. Your father is to line up and pay his exit tax (how we are to repay Mr Rivers I shall never know) and then we shall be with you. Tell me, what is Tyneford like at this time of year? You said the cooking is ‘hearty’ – is that the English word? I don’t like offal very much, but I am sure I can get used to anything . . .

I read no more, but seizing Art and kissing the old man soundly, I raced into the house calling for Kit and Mr Rivers.

‘The visa is here! They’re coming!’

August 29th. Kit and I spread out a picnic rug on the lawns. He wanted to walk to the top of Flower’s Barrow or go for a swim, but I wanted to read the newspapers and write my latest letter to Anna. I no longer posted them, as by the time they arrived Anna and Julian would have left, so I kept them in the viola case. I didn’t want to forget anything when I told her about the last few months. I imagined her reclining in a cushioned deckchair beneath the oak tree’s shade and reading my parcel of letters, chuckling softly and sipping iced tea.

I now read Art’s
Daily Mirror
as well as Mr Rivers’ copy of
The Times
and the papers were spread around us on the grass, weighted down with stones, and flapping like tethered gulls in the breeze. Kit rolled onto his back and shielded his eyes against the glare of the late summer sun.

‘So? What does Mr Churchill say this morning?’

I rustled through the
Mirror.

‘
No one knows what’s going to happen abroad. Nor when the worst will happen.
’

Kit opened an eye. ‘Anna and Julian will be here any day.’

He’d finally caught my habit of calling them by their first names.

‘Any day,’ I echoed.

‘Come, darling. There’s no help in fretting. They’ll be here before you know it.’

I turned to the
Mirror.
‘
All British ships are now under Admiralty control. From midnight on Saturday every British ship afloat came under Admiralty direction
.’

‘Ah. Burt’ll be tickled that
The Lugger
is now part of the navy,’ said Kit, stroking the sun-darkened freckles on my arm. ‘Come for a swim? It’s so blasted hot.’

‘No thank you. I’m going to stay here for a bit.’

‘Suit yourself. If you fancy joining me, I’ll be on Worbarrow beach.’

‘All right,’ I said, planting a kiss on his nose. ‘I will. Give me an hour.’

I watched him as he strode down to the beach in his white tennis shoes. Long days spent outside in the sunshine had bleached his hair a brighter shade of gold, and his skin had ripened to a rich brown. I was tempted to abandon my papers and run after him. Kit was a muscular swimmer, cutting through the green waves with powerful strokes. Afterwards, he liked to stretch out upon the rocks in his shorts, glistening and lithe as an otter. Yes, I decided. The papers and Anna’s letter could wait. I determined to fetch my bathing things from the house. I scrambled to my feet, flicking a scarlet ladybird from my blouse, and headed back to the terrace. There was the grumble of motorcar tyres on gravel, and then the thud-thud of two car doors closing. Mr Rivers was away across the hills for his daily walk, and Art never took the car without him. No guests were expected. My heart leapt. Anna. Julian. It had to be them. I ran to the side of the house, skidding on the loose stones, heart pounding in my ears like a timpani drum. I hurled myself round the corner, and stopped.

Anna and Julian stand in the driveway. A sound escapes from my lips and, for a moment, I think it is the cry of a gull and not my own voice. They are here. I say the words again and again, not quite believing them. Then I am buried in Anna’s arms and ah, the spice of her perfume. And in the sunlight I see flecks of white in the blonde of her hair and Julian is thin, thinner than I’ve seen him before but it doesn’t matter because they’ll be fed gooseberry crumble until they’re fat again. And I’m crying and I can’t breathe and I’m making a mess on the pressed linen of Anna’s collar.

‘Darling, it’s all right,’ says Julian. ‘Everything’s all right now.’

I take his hand and lead them onto the terrace and we sit in the warm afternoon. A butterfly lands on Anna’s lapel and she gazes down upon it benevolently. ‘Be careful,’ she says, ‘or I shall get too fond of you and turn you into a brooch.’

I stare at my parents, and see that they are just the same: a little older and worn perhaps but otherwise unchanged. Anna smiles and her forehead creases. Julian stretches out his legs and I see to my delight that his socks don’t match. There is too much to say, so we are silent and listen instead to the sea. Upon the water, a sailboat tacks and rushes towards the far side of the bay. I want to tell them everything: how Anna’s drawers are full of lavender and that Mr Rivers has a special bottle of Château Margaux set aside to celebrate their arrival. I want them to meet Kit. I want Anna to love Kit. The scarlet geraniums in their terracotta pots are so bright – a bold, child’s red, and I decide that I shall always have geraniums on the terrace and they will remind me of this moment. And I want to ask about the great-aunts but I can’t because I am selfish and I don’t want to spoil this feeling of happiness and I try to think of something to ask – anything to stop me thinking about the three old women left alone in Vienna – and I turn to Julian and I ask, ‘What is the novel in the viola about?’

It all happened in a single tick of a pocket-watch. I stopped and blinked and I was alone on the driveway. The mirage of Anna and Julian had vanished, but I willed it to be them. I listened to the thud-thud of the car doors and saw that a police car was parked outside the house. But why had they come in a police car? Art would have picked them up from the station but it didn’t matter, not now. The midday sun was blinding me; I shielded my eyes and scoured the driveway for my parents.

‘Anna! It’s me. Papa?’ I called, unable to see.

‘Miss?’ said a voice, and I turned to see a uniformed constable standing beside the back door, round helmet clasped beneath his arm.