Blitz - Book 4 of the Poppy Chronicles

by Claire Rayner

  ‘Not at all.’ It was Harry who spoke and everyone now stared at him in some surprise, except Sam Landow who was still looking at Chloe with his brows slightly creased. ‘She thinks she is, and so she sends out a message telling everyone that she is. So that’s what everyone else believes. It’s a common enough trick.’

  Again there was a silence and then Sam laughed.

  ‘I couldn’t agree with you more, Harry. I have nothing against the lady at all – agreeable to look at and so forth. But I am intrigued by someone who finds it so necessary to make an impact. She comes late, dresses in a way that you can’t deny is outrée, if interesting, and manages to make a room full of people talk about her and only her. Just look at those over there. All fascinated by her. But when you really look at her, it’s a pleasant enough face but fairly ordinary. She’s a self-created thing – make-up, and clothes and manner. Quite fascinating – ’

  ‘Yes,’ Harry said. ‘That’s what I thought,’ and lapsed again into silence.

  ‘Well, I’m not talking about her,’ Hamish said and there was something a little wooden in his tone. ‘I don’t think it’s verra kind of us to be criticizing a relation of our hostess – ’

  ‘Oh, don’t worry about that, Hamish,’ Robin said, a little bitterly. ‘We all have our problems with my sister Chloe! All except Grandmamma, that is, but then she’s special. Anyway, let’s all go upstairs, shall we? Maybe someone else can play the gramophone as David’s busy, and we can dance again – ’

  It was suddenly important to Robin that they all escape from what she regarded as Chloe’s baleful influence, and she was very relieved when they all got to their feet obediently.

  ‘I’ll deal with the gramophone,’ Sam Landow offered and Robin smiled at him gratefully.

  ‘That would be lovely,’ she said and gave Hamish a small push so that he led the way to the door. If they could just get out of the dining room and upstairs before Chloe saw her and her friends, perhaps it could all be all right – still –

  And at first it seemed it would be. Sam played a tango and then a rumba record and that made them all laugh immoderately as they struggled to deal with the steps, and when the record finished it was generally agreed that Hamish, with Robin battling gamely to keep up with him, had been far and away the best; and then as Robin protested her shame at her own inability to dance as well as her partner, the hated voice broke in from the doorway.

  ‘You’re absolutely right, Robin, darling. A man who dances a rumba like that deserves a chance to really show it off. Darling – there at the gramophone – do I know you? Well, never mind. Do put that divine thing on again and we’ll have another try at it. It will be bliss after dancing with you, Colin, my sweet. There are a number of things you do superbly well but the rumba isn’t one of them.’

  And she moved towards Hamish as the record started again, though with a little jerk, as though the person putting it on had been clumsy for some reason, and then, as the sickly sweet sobbing of the violin began, she put her arms up to Hamish, and he, apparently unable to do otherwise, accepted her as a partner.

  There was no doubt she could dance. Robin watched her, trying as hard as she could not to let her anger show in her face, as Hamish threw himself into his dancing with even more fervour. Now he had a partner who understood the dance and could do it well, he was even better than he had been. They swooped gloriously about the room, Chloe with her head thrown back in true Latin American haughtiness and Hamish looking quite magnificent with his bulk and his swiftness. So much so that when the record came to an end everyone in the room applauded them, and there was a good deal of badinage from some of the other people who had come up from the dining room, which made Hamish go red with pleasure and made Chloe, thought Robin spitefully, preen like a demented bird.

  From then on, Chloe and her partner seemed to become part of the group that had been formed by Chick and Robin as naturally as though it had been ordained by some higher power. The sharp remarks they had shared earlier about her seemed to have had no effect on either Chick or Daniel, and Harry remained his own silent self, and Sam too, who, when he wasn’t playing records for them all, watched with quiet interest but contributed little. Now it was a threesome who sparkled, rather than just a duet, and Robin felt her throat tighten and the muscles across her back become ever more tense as she watched her happy evening break up around her.

  Because there was no doubt that Chloe was flirting quite shamefully with Hamish. She would make some wicked little remark and then look at him sideways with a twinkle that made his stern face relax, and then would say something wheedling that made him actually laugh, and Robin got angrier and angrier. How dare she steal her escort like this when she had a perfectly serviceable one of her own? And she looked at Colin Stanniforth and felt a little better, for he too was watching Chloe’s efforts with anger in his expression. And Robin, with a rare touch of malice said quietly to him, ‘Well, I never knew my sister to be so attracted to a man who’s one of the quiet sort! She does seem to like him, doesn’t she?’

  Colin made some sort of noise indicating acquiescence as he watched the dancers come to the end of a waltz, during which Chloe had brought her face as close to Hamish’s as it could be without their cheeks actually touching, and then as they came up to where he was standing, said in what seemed a pleasant enough voice but which to Robin had an edge of dislike in it, ‘Well, well! That’s quite a grasp you have of the art of ballroom dancing, Mr ah – ah – ’

  ‘Todd,’ Hamish said quietly and looked down at Chloe, who still had her hand resting on his shoulder as though she had inadvertently forgotten to let go when the music ended. ‘I learned from my older sisters. They were very keen, and needed a tall partner to help them along with their own efforts.’

  ‘Oh,’ Stanniforth said and smiled a little thinly. ‘I thought perhaps you’d learned it in the officers’ mess somewhere. We have regular dances in ours. Don’t you?’

  Hamish looked at him. His face, though still a little flushed from the effort of dancing in a room which was getting steadily hotter, was composed enough. ‘I’m not in the Army, Captain,’ he said.

  ‘Ah! My mistake! Navy then? Air Force?’

  ‘Neither of them.’

  ‘Oh! I imagined you must be on the sick list or something of the sort. One usually does get that notion, don’t you know, when one sees an able bodied chap in mufti – unless you’re in one of these what-do-they-call-’em reserved occupations? Doctor, perhaps, or such like? Though most of the chaps with that sort of training I know couldn’t wait to get into uniform to do their bit.’

  Around them the rest of the group had gathered, all except Sam Landow who had gone back to deal with the gramophone, and Daniel, one eyebrow cocked, looked at Chick and then at Stanniforth and said easily, ‘Hey old man, lay off! Chap’ll think you’re accusing him of a being a conchie next! I dare say there’s a good reason for him not being in uniform. Not fit maybe. You can’t always go by looks, can you? Could be he’s just not able to do the sort of concentrated hard work that’s necessary in the mob –’ And then he looked at Hamish and nodded cheerfully at him. ‘Eh, fella? You tell him!’

  ‘I am perfectly fit,’ Hamish said steadily. ‘And I work hard. As a hospital orderly. And you were perfectly right. I am a conscientious objector.’

  The silence that struck them was made even sharper by the wail of the record that Sam had put on before being relieved at his post by David, who had just come up from the dining room. ‘It’s a lovely day tomorrow,’ the saxophones wailed and as Sam joined them he looked at Robin’s face, which was stiff with embarrassment and anger, and then looked around at the rest of them, and said with cheerful good humour, ‘No more listen-to-the-music for me! It’s time I learned to dance, I think, useless as I am. Robin, could you bear to teach me? I’d be most grateful –’ And not waiting for a reply he took her elbow and drew her into the middle of the room.

  He knew how to go through the motions of dancing,
at least, and put his arm around her in the approved manner and took her right hand, and began to walk a little awkwardly to the rhythm of the music. ‘What was all that about, then?’ he said quietly. ‘You looked as though you’d caught a direct hit.’

  Robin was almost in tears of mortification and had to swallow hard before she could answer.

  ‘It’s my sister – oh, I do hate her sometimes! I know I shouldn’t, but she makes it impossible not to.’

  ‘Why shouldn’t you hate her?’

  ‘I told you. She’s my sister.’

  ‘A very good reason to hate someone, I’d say,’ he said judiciously. ‘I’ve a brother I simply loathe. Have ever since he was born. We do fine as long as we’re not within a hundred miles of each other.’

  She managed a watery little grimace of a smile. ‘Well, I wish Chloe kept herself a hundred miles away. That horrible friend of hers is having a go at Hamish for being a conchie, just because he’s jealous of the way Chloe was flirting with Hamish. I could see it in his face – ’

  ‘Are you jealous too?’ he said, even more quietly, and managed to make a sort of reverse turn as they reached the end of the dancing area and were at real risk of going into the wall.

  ‘Me, jealous?’ She managed a laugh then. ‘As if I’d be jealous of – oh, damn it, of course I am! She’s so pretty and looks so marvellous all the time and she’s – it’s the way she doesn’t care about anything. I couldn’t be like that, even if I tried.’

  ‘Would you like to be?’

  ‘Oh, sometimes, of course I would. Wouldn’t you? Wouldn’t it be lovely to just do what you like when you like and never have to worry about anyone else’s feelings? Me, if I go to bed in the morning before calling Ma I get swallowed up in a guilty conscience. Not Chloe – she doesn’t bother to call anyone for weeks and weeks and then if anyone says anything she gets simply hateful. Of course I get jealous of her – ’

  ‘You needn’t be. Being the way you are makes you a much nicer person.’

  ‘To other people maybe,’ Robin said gloomily. ‘But she has more fun.’ And she watched over his shoulder as the conversation between Chloe and Stanniforth and Hamish and Daniel went on. At least he hadn’t walked out in a rage as she would have thought he might –

  ‘I wondered actually if you were jealous because she was flirting with your Hamish,’ Landow said then.

  ‘Jealous of – such stuff! And he’s not my Hamish! It’s just that he’s a friend and – oh, I don’t know! Let’s not talk about it, for heaven’s sake.’

  ‘By all means,’ he said courteously. ‘Just tell me where I’m going wrong with these steps. I know what we’re doing isn’t dancing. So what should I do with – Oh! The record’s over. Shall we try again when your father – ’

  But she’d slipped away from him, back to the group; but she was too late. Hamish was no longer there, and Chick was speaking heatedly to Stanniforth as she came up.

  ‘ – it’s no one else’s business anyway!’ she was saying and she turned as Robin came up to her and said impulsively, ‘Look, ducks, I’m sorry, I’ve been a bit overheated with one of your guests – I’m truly sorry. But I just get so mad sometimes –’ And she broke away and headed for the door, with, after a moment of surprise, Daniel at her heels.

  ‘Well!’ Robin said and glared at Chloe. ‘I hope you’re satisfied!’

  ‘Darling!’ Chloe opened her eyes wide. ‘What did I do?’ Not a thing, believe me! It’s dear old Colin here who got hot under the collar and put the old foot in it. But you can’t really blame him. Here he is, giving his little all for king and country and so forth and it’s maddening to see these other characters skiving off – ’

  ‘Absolutely got it in one, old thing, naturally gets a chap’s back up. Don’t mean to offend your guests though, I must say –’ Colin Stanniforth looked as pleased with himself as a well-fed baby, in spite of his words, and Robin threw him a withering look and then ignored him.

  ‘Hamish is not a skiver,’ she said hotly. ‘He’s a damned hard worker. If you or any of your friends had to do some of the ghastly work he has to do you’d know. Not that you lot do much at the War Office but polish seats with your bottoms, as far as I can tell! I’d like to see you deal with the buckets of blood and – and – mess he deals with night after night. So let’s have a little bit of – ’

  Chloe lifted her brows at her, looking angry for the first time. ‘No need to be coarse, sweetie,’ she said sharply. ‘We all do our bit in our own way. And less detail, if you please.’ She smiled then, suddenly emollient. ‘Leave it be, there’s a lamb. No harm meant and none done, I’m sure. Just a few ruffled feelings. You go and tell your little friend we’re all madly sorry to have hurt his sensitive feelings, though seeing he’s got so many of them, it’s hard not to, of course – ’

  Robin opened her mouth again to argue and then shook her head and turned away furiously. ‘Good night,’ she said, almost spitting it. ‘I have to get back. Chick’ll be waiting for me –’ And she went stomping off across the floor to say goodnight to her grandmother and stepfather and then marched out of the room, totally ignoring Chloe and Stanniforth, and necessarily, Sam Landow who was still standing beside them, watching thoughtfully.

  There was a silence after she’d gone and then Chloe, seeming unaware that Sam was still standing there said softly, ‘Well, well! Who’d have thought the little one’d ever be so spirited? Pity she got herself mixed up with a conchie, though!’

  ‘Disgusting, if you ask me!’ Stanniforth said. ‘I’d stand the buggers against a wall and shoot ’em, begging your presence, of course. But really, it’s a bit much when we’re fighting a bloody war to have these fellas sneaking off under cover of their so-called consciences and getting away with it.’

  ‘Oh, he’s not that bad,’ Chloe said and still she stared at the door, a little dreamily, as though she could still see Hamish and Robin on the other side of it. ‘It’s my bet he could be made to see the error of his ways. He needs someone to make a real man of him, wouldn’t you say?’

  ‘Can’t be done,’ Stanniforth said. ‘He’s just a coward, a damn useless coward – ’

  ‘What would you put on it?’ Chloe looked at him sharply.

  ‘Eh?’

  ‘You heard me. Put your money where your mouth is, darling. Make me a bet I can’t get that man into uniform. I know I can do it. You say I can’t. Well, how much says I can’t? I’ll bet you ten to one, in fivers, that I can do it.’

  He looked at her dubiously. ‘In fivers –?’

  ‘In fivers. Ten to one. Well?’

  Stanniforth managed a smile, but it was a strained one. ‘Really, Chloe, you do go a bit far, sometimes.’

  ‘Not as far as I’d like to. Listen, are you on? I’ll have that great lump of porridge dolled up in uniform of some sort of another before the summer. I need a little time, of course – ’

  ‘Three months,’ Stanniforth said promptly, grabbing at the slim opportunity he saw; and then his face fell, because she nodded emphatically.

  ‘You’re on! I’ll keep you informed of what’s going on, I promise. But you’d better start saving.’ And with one last smile at him, she turned and went to get herself another drink from the diminishing store of punch, as Stanniforth stared gloomily after her.

  20

  ‘So, there you are, Poppy.’ Jessie leaned back and took a deep breath which turned into a huge yawn. ‘We’ve done it. But ain’t it enough we got all the rest of the business to worry about without having to deal with an audit? You’d think, wouldn’t you, in these hard times they’d leave us in peace?’

  Poppy managed to laugh, but it was a tired one. She had in fact done most of the necessary extra work demanded by the approaching audit, and that had needed perforce to be left till after the restaurant had closed, eating away at her canteen hours. But she’d still tried to put in some time there, so as not to exploit Maria and Flo and Edna and all the rest of them too much; so she was as near to tota
l exhaustion as she had ever been. Even breathing seemed to be an effort, let alone laughing.

  ‘It’s necessary, darling, and you know it. It’s not as bad as the next one, though – the end of the financial year – ’

  Jessie groaned. ‘Enough already! Let next April worry about itself. I got enough with the Christmas one. Listen, you’ll have something to eat before you go home?’

  Poppy hesitated. She’d had a long day, acting as waiter as well as bookkeeper and cashier over at her own restaurant, because both Horace and Minnie were off sick with heavy colds, and what she needed most of all was sleep. But she hadn’t eaten all day that she could remember, apart from snatched cups of tea – blessed tea! – and there was no need to hurry home. David had warned her he might not get home tonight, because something big was blowing up, he’d been warned, and he’d probably stay at the office. To return to a silent and shuttered house occupied only by the sleeping Goosey wouldn’t be any real pleasure, after all. She had a moment of pricking conscience over Goosey and then dismissed it. The old lady would sleep late as she always did these days, and wouldn’t even know Poppy hadn’t got home till all hours.

  ‘A little something easy,’ she said. ‘I couldn’t manage anything too heavy, so late – ’

  ‘Soup,’ Jessie said, looking at her with sharp anxiety. ‘I had some marvellous bean and barley today, best you ever tried. Decent beef bones for once – it’ll take only a minute.’

  When they were both sitting over the big bowls of fragrant soup and pile of rolls that Jessie had inevitably added to the meal, Jessie said with studied nonchalance, ‘So – the little one, how is she?’

  ‘I wish you wouldn’t call her that,’ Poppy said with sudden sharpness. ‘She’s not a child any more.’

  ‘She’ll always be the little one to me,’ Jessie said comfortably. ‘Just as you’ll always be my Poppela.’