‘With very good reason.’ Perys agreed. ‘The sad thing is, I fear there will be many more days like this before the war is over. Listening to the soldiers talking today it is likely to last for a long time. There is a fiercely fought war going on in France and Belgium. It seems the Germans are just as determined to win as we are.’
‘Has what you have witnessed today made you rethink your decision to join the Royal Flying Corps and go to war yourself, Perys? No one would blame you if it has.’
‘Quite the opposite, Aunt Maude. No one could fail to be appalled by what I have seen, but it has made me angry - and determined. Angry that the Germans should deliberately start such a war and cause all the suffering I’ve seen today, determined to do whatever I can to help bring it to an end as quickly as possible.’
Maude wondered how many of the maimed and wounded young men Perys had seen that day had gone to war with exactly the same thoughts and aims in mind. Remembering the anguish she had suffered when her own husband had been killed in a war only fourteen years ago, she thought of the pain and despair there would be in so many households in the country at this moment.
Her friends in the War Office were grimly hinting that the experienced soldiers in the British army had been almost wiped out. The hope for future victories rested with the largely untried men who were volunteering in their tens of thousands to take their places.
Perys was one such young man and one she and her two daughters had grown extremely fond of during the short time they had known him. She hoped with all her heart they would never need to grieve for him.
Chapter 27
During his second week of training Perys put in so many hours of flying time that Nick complained light-heartedly that the fee he was receiving from Rupert would not cover the fuel Perys was using.
Perys was flying the Avro now. A couple of hours dual with Nick had been sufficient for the instructor to satisfy himself that Perys was proficient enough to take the aeroplane up by himself. It also meant Nick could take other pupils up in the ‘Longhorn’ while Perys was flying.
Towards the end of the week, Perys received disappointing news. The examiner who was to have come to Brooklands to test the flying skills of Perys and a number of other pupils had been involved in a flying accident. Although he survived the crash, he had received serious injuries and would be unable to carry out his duties for some considerable time.
The only consolation for Perys was that Nick Malloch allowed him to stay at his home for an additional week and continue his solo flying. What was more, he had just obtained a BE2c aircraft, on which Perys put in a number of flying hours.
The aeroplane had been in private ownership since it was built, but the owner had sold it to Nick, who now had three serviceable aeroplanes at his disposal.
When the new examiner arrived at Brooklands, a week later than planned, it was discovered he was an old friend of Nicks.
By this time Perys had clocked up a total of forty-five solo flying hours in three different aeroplanes. It was an impressive amount of flying time for a trainee pilot. He had also carried out aerobatics in the BE2c when playing follow-the-leader with Nick flying the Avro.
It was an exhibition of flying that filled the watching RFC trainee pilots with envy. There were so many of them that, with too few planes at their disposal, they were sometimes forced to wait all day in order to enjoy a mere half-an-hour in the air. They would be expected to obtain their pilot’s certificate with only a fraction of the flying time clocked up by Perys. Another far more sobering thought was that many of the RFC pilots would be killed in action without ever achieving the number of flying hours Perys had to his name.
The Aero Club examiner first asked Perys some cursory questions, then Perys took up the Maurice Farman ‘Longhorn’ to carry out a few elementary manoeuvres around the perimeter of the motor-racing track.
As he was taxying off the examiner asked Nick, ‘How do you rate this one?’
Nick responded immediately. ‘I wouldn’t dream of telling him, but he’s a natural. Probably one of the finest pilots I have ever turned out.’
Shifting his glance from the ‘Longhorn’ to the man standing beside him, the examiner said, ‘That’s high praise indeed coming from you, Nick.’
‘It’s fully justified, I can assure you,’ Nick replied. ‘I thought his cousin, Rupert Pilkington, was good, but Perys will be better.’
Once again the examiner moved his glance from the aeroplane to the flying instructor. ‘I know Rupert well. He’s one of the very best. This boy must be good.’
‘He is,’ Nick said simply.
Perys did not let his instructor down. After his obligatory manoeuvres, the examiner turned to Kick and said, ‘I think you’re right. He handled that aeroplane as though he’s been flying for years.’
Relieved, despite the confidence he had in his pupil, Nick grinned. ‘You should see him performing aerobatics in the BE2c. I wouldn’t fancy my chances were I an enemy with Perys on my tail.’
‘Did you say there was some urgency about granting him his ticket?’ As the examiner spoke he was writing something on the form attached to the clipboard he held in his hands.
‘Yes, he has an interview for the RFC at the War Office next week. As a qualified pilot his acceptance will be assured.’
‘I’ll see his licence has priority, but don’t worry about it. He’ll be interviewed by Colonel MacAllen - Lord MacAllen. I’m having dinner with him this weekend, I’ll see that Perys is given a mention.’
* * *
When Perys stood before Colonel MacAllen the following week, it quickly became evident that he had been mentioned to the Royal Flying Corps recruiting officer by more than one interested party.
After poring over the documents laid on the desk before him, the colonel looked up at Perys and smiled. ‘You seem to have impressed a great many people in a very short time, young man. You have also seen action with your relative, Captain Pilkington, I believe?’
‘Yes, sir. It was a very exciting first flight.’
‘Quite!’ The colonel chuckled. ‘I think you and the Royal Flying Corps will suit each other very well - especially after the three weeks you have spent under the instruction of Nick Malloch. I expect great things from you, Tremayne. I doubt very much I will be disappointed.’
‘You mean . . . I am accepted, sir? When will I be able to start?’
Colonel MacAllen held up a hand in mock protest. ‘You will need a little patience, young man. Pilots are urgently required - and you are certainly a pilot, but you are not yet a Royal Flying Corps pilot. You will need to learn something of service etiquette, discipline and drill. We are now in November. Despite the urgency of the present situation, I doubt whether any new recruits will begin training until the New Year.’
Perys found it difficult to hide his disappointment.
Observing this, Colonel MacAllen said, ‘I appreciate your eagerness to serve your country, Tremayne, but the best I can do for you is to make a recommendation that once your basic training is completed, your flying ability is assessed. If it is found to be satisfactory - and Malloch seems convinced it will be - I will recommend that you are sent on an advanced flying course immediately. With luck, you should be in France with a front-line squadron by the spring of next year. I doubt very much whether there will be any serious fighting before then.’
Looking back at the documents on the desk before him, he said, ‘I see we have a London address for you. Is there anywhere else you might be when we send for you?’
‘Yes, sir. I hope to spend a week or two at my great-uncle’s house in Cornwall. The address should be somewhere in my file. It’s Heligan House, at Saint Ewe.’
Chapter 28
Perys had hoped to leave for Cornwall immediately after obtaining his pilot’s licence, but in spite of all Maude’s efforts to contact Great-Uncle Hugh Tremayne, it was proving difficult. Perys would need his approval in order to return to the house.
He wrote to tell
Annie of his plans, then impatiently awaited news from his great-uncle.
During his time at Knightsbridge, Perys helped out at St Thomas’s Hospital where many men wounded in the battle-fields of France and Belgium continued to be admitted. He also spent a few days at Brooklands with Nick Malloch, adding to his flying hours and even accompanying trainee pilots on dual-flying flights.
The latter was something he did not enjoy, but it went some way towards repaying the debt he owed to Nick. Then, during the last week in November, a number of things happened.
The first was that Perys received a letter instructing him to report to the Central Flying School at Upavon, on Salisbury Plain, in Wiltshire, a few days after Christmas.
The second incident of note was that Arabella told him, in a dramatically serious manner, that she had fallen hopelessly in love with a young trainee doctor. She was convinced that this new love would be the man in her life ‘for ever’. She begged Perys to forgive her fickleness.
Doing his best to hide his relief and trying to match her gravity, he informed his young cousin that he put her happiness before all other considerations. He hoped the man in question would prove worthy of her.
Arabella’s reaction was to fling her arms about his neck and tell Perys what a wonderful person he was. For a few moments he was afraid he might have overplayed the role of a jilted but understanding ‘lover’. However, Arabella then regaled him with a list of the virtues of the man chosen to be the final love in her young life. Not least among them was the fact that he was the heir to an ancient baronetcy.
Two days later Maude received the long- awaited letter from Hugh Tremayne. Delighted that Perys was to join the Royal Flying Corps, the owner of Heligan declared that in view of Perys’s part in the flight that had earned Rupert a DSO, he was to look upon Heligan as his home whenever the opportunity arose for him to pay it a visit. Hugh Tremayne himself would be spending little time there, preferring the comforts of another property he owned in Devon. All he asked was that Perys should inform the Heligan housekeeper in advance of his intended arrival.
Perys would have set off for Cornwall immediately, but there was also news from Rupert. An impasse had been reached in the war in Europe. The Germans had thrown everything into their initial assault upon France in anticipation of a swift and decisive victory, but their aims had been thwarted by the fierce resistance put up by the French and British armies.
Both sides had suffered horrific losses in the initial conflict. Forced to draw back from the gates of Paris, the German army had retreated to a defensive line that would change little during the ensuing four years, despite slaughter on a scale never before witnessed in warfare. Already the casualties were so high that neither side had sufficient trained men left to launch a major offensive in the immediate future.
This, together with the prospect of bad weather, meant that the Royal Flying Corps could temporarily scale down its activities and allow its pilots a period of leave. As a result, Rupert expected to be back in England during the second week of December. He intended paying a call on Morwenna and her family in Knightsbridge.
As a result, Perys postponed his planned visit to Heligan House.
* * *
When Rupert arrived at the Tremaynes’ Knightsbridge house, driving his very impressive Rolls-Royce motor-car, Perys thought he looked older than when they had last met.
Rupert was equally concerned for Morwenna. After greeting Maude and the two girls, he stood back and looked critically at her.
‘You look tired, Morwenna. You’ve been working far too hard - and don’t tell me I am imagining it. You nursed one of my wounded pilots. He returned to France and told me he had met with you and that you were absolutely rushed off your feet for the whole of the time you were on duty. He also said you were an absolute angel to all the men on your ward.’
‘I remember him well,’ Morwenna said. ‘He was one of our earliest casualties. We often spoke about you. I didn’t realise he would be returned to duty so soon. He had chest and shoulder wounds, as I recall. How is he?’
A pained expression crossed Rupert’s face. ‘He was killed on his first flight back with us. Shot down by German anti-aircraft fire while on a reconnaissance flight.’
‘I’m sorry . . .’ Morwenna was genuinely upset. ‘He was such a pleasant young man.’
‘And a first-class pilot,’ said Rupert. ‘But don’t let’s talk of the war. I am only home for a few days. I would like to celebrate by taking you all out to dinner this evening. What do you say?’
Rupert’s invitation met with a mixed reception. Morwenna and Perys were enthusiastic, but Arabella was unable to accept. She was on night shift at the hospital. Maude also had to decline. She was chairing fund-raising meetings on both the evenings Rupert would be spending with the family.
Rupert’s disappointment was apparent to everyone and Maude said, quickly, ‘You must not allow the absence of Arabella and me to spoil your evening. Make the most of your time away from the war, Rupert. Both Morwenna and Perys have worked very hard in recent weeks. You must go out and enjoy yourselves while you can. Indeed, I insist that you do. Who knows when you are all likely to be in the same place at the same time again? This is a special occasion, one to be celebrated in style. You must book a table at a first-class restaurant for dinner and have the bill sent to me.’
Rupert had planned for something a little less ostentatious nevertheless, it was a generous gesture on Maude’s part and he said so.
‘Nonsense!’ was Maude’s reply. ‘I am proud of you - every one of you - and am happy to have an opportunity to express my admiration.’ Aware that Arabella was deeply disappointed at being excluded from the evening’s celebrations, Maude turned to her and said, ‘I am equally proud of you too, dear, but we both have work to do. Never mind, you and I will go shopping at Harrods when next we have a free day together.’
Aware that her mother would be anxious to prove as generous to her as she was being to Morwenna, Arabella accepted the alternative happily.
Chapter 29
During the remainder of that day Perys was aware of occasional whispered conversations between Morwenna and her mother, and also, occasionally, with Rupert.
He tried to ignore them. After all, Rupert and the Knightsbridge Tremaynes had known each other for very many years, while he had only recently come into their lives. There would be things they wanted to say to each other that did not concern him.
Nevertheless, although he tried hard to excuse such secretiveness, it left him with a feeling that however kind they were to him, he was still an outsider.
Then, when Maude had left for her meeting and Arabella and Morwenna were out of the room, Rupert gave Perys an explanation for their secrecy.
‘Perys, you could not have helped noticing that Maude, Morwenna and myself were being unforgivably rude by whispering in corners, but I can now explain. I thought it might be rather nice if we could make it a somewhat more balanced dinner party tonight. I suggested to Morwenna that she invite one of her friends at the hospital for dinner and offered to pay for the extra guest. However, Aunt Maude agreed that it was a splendid idea and insisted that she pay for the evening, no matter how many of us there were. Morwenna telephoned one of her special friends, a girl named Grace Ballard. She has accepted an invitation to join us for dinner.’
Having written only the previous day to tell Annie how much he was looking forward to seeing her again later that week, Perys was not particularly enthusiastic about acting as a partner to one of Morwenna’s friends. But Rupert’s next words explained his reason for suggesting such an arrangement.
‘By inviting a companion for you I am not being entirely altruistic, Perys. I hope it will mean I have more of Morwenna’s attention. I would dearly like to have a serious discussion with her, so you are really doing me a very great favour, old chap!’
Perys had realised when they met at Heligan that Morwenna and Rupert looked upon each other as more than friends and second cous
ins, and he owed Rupert a great deal. Besides which he felt guilty about the thoughts he had entertained about their whispering.
‘You have no need to apologise for taking me out to dinner and providing me with the company of a pleasant young woman - and I am sure that’s what she will be if she’s a friend of Morwenna.’
* * *
Despite his acceptance of the situation, some of Perys’s guilt returned when Grace Ballard turned out to be a very attractive and well-educated young woman. She was quite obviously delighted to be going out to dinner in the company of two pilots, one of whom was already a decorated hero.
When Grace questioned him about his own flying future, it was evident to Perys that she had been very well briefed about him.
But conversation with his arranged companion was not difficult. They soon discovered they had a great deal in common, not least the fact that Grace’s home was in the village of Asthall in Oxfordshire, only a short distance from the school Perys had attended.
When Perys told her he must have flown over her home on his way to drop the parachute message to his one-time headmaster, Grace became quite excited. Her mother had actually written to tell her about an aeroplane she had seen flying very close to the house. It was the first plane her mother had ever seen and Grace said she would be thrilled to learn that her daughter had actually dined with the pilot!
The evening was a highly successful and enjoyable occasion and Perys’s earlier misgivings were quickly forgotten.
After dinner, Rupert drove the happy party to the Embankment. There he parked his motor-car and they paired off to walk beside the River Thames. Despite the late hour the river and the road beside it were still very busy.
As Perys leaned on the wall, watching the boats go by, Grace looked to where Morwenna was walking arm-in-arm with Rupert and said, ‘They do make a handsome couple and they are very happy together. I hope this ghastly war does nothing to part them. But Morwenna and I will soon be in France ourselves - perhaps she will see more of Rupert there.’
The Lost Years Page 14
