by Lily Baxter
Meg shot a wary glance at her sister who was flinging clothes into her battered leather suitcase without bothering to fold them. This in itself was a bad sign, as normally Adele was obsessively neat and tidy. Eventually the heavy silence became too much for Meg. ‘Look, Addie. How many more times have I got to say sorry for what I did? There’s no need for you to cut your holiday short because of me.’
‘Uncle Paul doesn’t trust you to travel on your own. There’s no chance that he’ll let me stay.’ She tossed her best silk dress on top of the jumble in her case. ‘Frank and I were getting on so well. Everything was unutterably wonderful.’ Her voice broke on a sob. ‘And now we’ve got to go home tomorrow and I’ll probably never see him again.’
‘If he’s half the man I think he is he won’t let something like that put him off.’
Adele sank onto the bed, covering her face with her hands. ‘I – I think I love him, Meg. What am I going to do?’
Stricken with remorse, Meg struggled to find words of comfort. ‘I didn’t mean it to end like this. I’m truly sorry for what I did. I didn’t think …’
Adele dropped her hands to her lap. ‘No, that’s your trouble. You don’t think before you do things. You’ve ruined my life, Meg.’ She bent her head and her shoulders shook.
Meg gazed at her helplessly. She had apologised until her throat was sore and her head ached. She knew that she had behaved foolishly and she did not blame them all for being angry, but she was at a loss to know how to make things right.
The sound of the doorbell echoing round the entrance hall brought her back to the present, and she hurried from the room. Perhaps, she thought wistfully, it might be Rayner arriving like a knight in shining armour to carry her off on a white charger, although the white Rolls-Royce would be more comfortable and a lot quicker. It was two days now since the ball and she had been confined to the house in disgrace. She had not been allowed to contact Rayner and, as far as she knew, he had not called at the house.
If Uncle Paul had been draconian in his handling of the matter, Aunt Josie had been utterly splendid. She had admitted that she had done much worse things when she was a girl, although she said in a whisper it would be better if they did not mention that to anyone, especially her husband. She had tried her best to comfort Adele, but her words fell on deaf ears. Adele was past reasoning.
Meg crossed the landing to lean over the highly polished oak banisters. She could hear familiar voices and she craned her neck in order to get a better view. Although she could only see the tops of their heads, she recognised Frank and Walter, but there was no sign of Rayner or David. She ran down the stairs to greet them. ‘Have you come to say goodbye?’
‘Well, we couldn’t let you go home without seeing you first.’ Walter stared at her anxiously. ‘Are you all right, Meg?’
‘Absolutely fine. They didn’t beat me too much.’ She could see from their shocked expressions that they actually believed her and she smiled ruefully. ‘Just joking, but I’m in deep disgrace.’
‘Rayner was more at fault than you, and David only made things worse,’ Frank said, frowning. ‘I’ve taken him to task and I believe your uncle has too.’
‘Yes. You were not entirely to blame,’ Walter added earnestly. ‘I’m really sorry you’re going away so soon.’
‘I don’t want to go, of course. But the worst thing is that Addie is being sent home too. I feel awful about spoiling her holiday.’ Meg turned to Frank with a meaningful look. ‘She’s very upset.’
‘I’d like to see her, Meg. I really need to talk to her in private.’
She breathed a sigh of relief. Perhaps all was not lost. ‘If you’d like to wait in the conservatory, I’ll fetch her.’ She grabbed Walter by the arm as he started to follow Frank. ‘Why don’t you wait here, Walter? I’ll be back in two ticks.’
She raced up the stairs and burst into the bedroom. ‘Addie. Stop crying and fix your makeup. You look like a panda. Frank is downstairs in the conservatory and he wants to see you urgently.’
Adele reached for her hanky. ‘I must look a perfect fright.’
‘No you don’t,’ Meg said stoutly. ‘At least, it’s nothing that a touch of mascara and lipstick won’t fix.’ She pulled Adele to her feet. ‘Wash your face and put on your war paint. I’ve a feeling that Frank is very serious, if you get my meaning.’ She picked up a silver-backed hairbrush and thrust it into her sister’s hand. ‘Do your stuff, Addie. And good luck.’
Downstairs in the entrance hall, Meg kept Walter chatting while Adele went to find Frank. She was running out of conversation when Josie emerged from Paul’s study. She looked pale beneath her makeup but her serious expression melted into a smile when she saw them. ‘Hello, Walter, how nice of you to call. But why are you two skulking around out here?’
‘Frank and Addie are having a heart to heart in the conservatory,’ Meg said earnestly. ‘We’re giving them a bit of privacy.’
‘Then I suggest we go into the drawing room and have a drink before dinner. You will stay, won’t you, Walter? I’m sure Cook could stretch the meal for another two hungry undergraduates. David is supposed to be coming, but he’s always late.’
Walter nodded eagerly. ‘Thank you, Mrs Shelmerdine. I mean, Josie. That would be super.’
‘Good, that’s settled then.’ She opened the drawing-room door and went straight to the cocktail cabinet. ‘Would you like a glass of sherry or would you prefer beer, Walter?’
‘I’d love a beer, please.’
‘Meg, would you like a drink?’
‘I’m surprised I’m allowed to.’
‘It’s all forgotten now, darling.’ Josie selected a cut-glass decanter and was about to pour the sherry when Adele entered the room with Frank.
Meg was quick to note that they were holding hands, and she could tell by the glow on Adele’s cheeks and the sparkle in her dark eyes that something momentous had occurred amongst the potted palms and Boston ferns.
‘Aunt Josie, Meg, Walter,’ Adele said breathlessly. ‘We’ve got something to tell you.’
‘What’s going on?’ David demanded when he joined them in the drawing room moments later. ‘Yesterday everyone was gloomy and now you’re all grinning like idiots, except you, of course, Aunt Josie. You could never look anything but perfect. Have I missed something?’
‘You’re just in time,’ Josie said happily. ‘Adele and Frank have just become engaged – unofficially of course, my dear, until Frank has spoken to your father.’
Meg held her breath, willing David to say something nice. She watched warily as he strode across the floor towards the newly engaged couple, and she sighed with relief when he kissed Adele on both cheeks and shook Frank’s hand. ‘Congratulations, old boy. I’m very happy for you.’
Josie clapped her hands. ‘This is a marvellous end to the girls’ holiday, especially after the slight contretemps at the ball, but that’s all forgotten now. We’re having a small celebration, David. Freda’s just gone to fetch the champagne.’
‘Shouldn’t we wait until Uncle Paul gets home?’ Adele asked anxiously. ‘He might be upset if we start without him.’
Josie’s smile faded and Meg saw that her aunt’s fingers shook slightly as she attempted to fix a cigarette into an onyx holder. ‘Paul telephoned to say he’d be a little late. Pressure of work, you know. But there’s no law against opening another bottle when he gets home, is there?’
They opened two more bottles of champagne when Paul arrived, and the events at the May Ball seemed to have been forgotten, but as Meg glanced at their happy faces she could not help thinking that no one seemed to care that Rayner was absent and excluded from the celebrations. The family had apparently written him off like a bad debt and he was forgotten. It seemed terribly unfair that she was not even allowed to say goodbye to him. She sipped her champagne but it tasted sour and the bubbles shot up her nose making her want to cry. Perhaps Rayner did not care that she was returning home in disgrace tomorrow; after all, he had ma
de no attempt to see her. He had not even sent a message with Walter or Frank. Maybe he thought she was a tiresome young girl who was simply not worth bothering about, and that the attention he had paid her at the ball had merely been an attempt to while away a boring evening.
‘Cheer up, Meg, it may never happen,’ David said, refilling her glass.
David and Walter were quite drunk by the end of the evening, and they were waiting for Frank to drive them back to their lodgings, but he had taken Adele for a moonlit walk in the garden and they had been gone for a very long time. Meg stood in the doorway, hugging her arms about her chest and shivering in her thin cotton dress. Aunt Josie had gone to find Frank and Addie and Uncle Paul had retired to his study to make an important telephone call. Walter had managed to stagger down the front steps, but was now sitting with his head held in his hands, groaning.
‘Goodbye, Meg,’ David said, leaning casually against the door jamb. ‘Try to behave yourself on the way home.’
She chose to ignore this unfair jibe. ‘Have you seen Rayner since the other night, David? It really wasn’t his fault.’
‘I know that.’ Suddenly sober, he put his arms round her. ‘Listen to me. There’s going to be a war whether we like it or not. Rayner knows that too, and he also knows that we’ll be on different sides. He’s going back to Germany at the end of term. Forget him, Meg. Go home and put all this behind you. You’ll never see him again.’
CHAPTER FOUR
Meg paused by the gilt mirror in the oak-panelled hall of Colivet Manor, patting her hair in place. She had decided to forego her early morning ride in order to present herself at breakfast on time and neatly turned out. She had suffered a long lecture from both parents when they returned from the mainland. Aunt Josie had telephoned simply to tell them that the girls would be returning earlier than expected, but apparently Mother had dragged the truth out of her with the ruthless efficiency of Torquemada, the Spanish Grand Inquisitioner. If it had not been for Adele, who had championed her valiantly, Meg was certain that she would have been put in the metaphorical corner until she was at least twenty-one. Addie had put the blame squarely on Rayner’s shoulders despite Meg’s murmured protests. Their father had listened in silence, but had said judiciously that no real harm was done and the matter should be forgotten. Their mother was not so forgiving, but Adele’s good news eclipsed the whole sorry affair at the May Ball and Meg found herself, as usual, pushed into the background, for which she was truly grateful.
It was almost a week since they had arrived back on the island and Meg was deeply disappointed by Rayner’s apparent abandonment of her. She had told no one, not even Adele, that her reason for leaving the ball and driving into the night alone with Rayner was quite simple. She had followed her heart. No one seemed to think it odd that Adele and Frank had fallen in love at first sight, but she knew if she were to claim that for her it had also been a coup de foudre, Mother would tell her that she was being ridiculous. She would say that it was a childish crush on a totally unsuitable young man, and Pa would warn her, just as David had done, that when the inevitable hostilities started Rayner Weiss would be on the opposing side.
Stretching the taut muscles of her face into a smile, Meg went slowly into the dining room, where her parents and Adele were seated at the table finishing their meal. As always, Muriel Colivet was immaculately turned out, in a paisley silk dress, complemented by a double row of pearls and matching earrings. With her flawless maquillage and her blonde hair piled high on her head in an elaborate coiffure, she would not have looked out of place at a state banquet. Meg sighed. She knew she could never live up to her mother’s high standards.
Muriel glanced up from buttering a slice of toast. ‘I hope you’re going to do something other than mope around the house today, Meg. You’ve been in a mood ever since you returned from Oxford. You’re lucky that you’re too old to be punished for your outrageous behaviour. I don’t know why you can’t be more like your sister.’
‘I’m sorry, Mother.’ Helping herself to bacon and scrambled eggs from silver breakfast dishes on the gleaming mahogany sideboard, Meg took her plate and went to sit beside Adele.
‘You look very nice this morning,’ Adele said, making an obvious attempt to lighten the atmosphere. ‘You should wear that shade of blue more often.’
‘It makes a change to see her out of those dreadful jodhpurs for once,’ Muriel said, frowning.
‘I should be hearing from Frank any day now, Mother.’ Adele smiled sympathetically at Meg as she skilfully changed the subject to something much dearer to their mother’s heart. ‘He said he would come here as soon as humanly possible.’
‘That’s splendid, darling.’ Muriel cocked her head on one side. ‘I think I just heard the rattle of the letter box. Perhaps you’ll hear from him today.’
Adele leapt to her feet. ‘I do hope so. I’ll go and see.’ She hurried from the room.
Charles Colivet peered at them from behind his copy of The Times. ‘What’s all the fuss about? Can’t a fellow read his paper in peace at his own breakfast table?’
Muriel dabbed her lips with a cream damask table napkin. ‘Adele has gone to fetch the post, dear. She’s waiting to hear from Frank.’
He turned the page with an exasperated sigh. ‘I dislike it intensely when people rush about at breakfast time.’
Adele walked slowly back into the dining room carefully sorting through the mail. She uttered a squeak. ‘This one’s for me.’ Dropping the rest of the correspondence on the table in front of Meg, she studied the postmark. ‘It must be from Frank. May I leave the table, Mother?’
Charles raised an eyebrow. ‘It looks as if you have already.’
Muriel shot him one of her Medusa glances, as Meg and Adele had dubbed them, which would turn any ordinary mortal into stone. ‘Of course, Addie. Don’t take any notice of your father. He’s as delighted about your engagement as I am.’
‘You’re forgetting that I haven’t given my consent yet, Muriel.’
‘But of course you will, dear.’
‘That all depends on the young man. When I’ve met him and had an in-depth discussion about his prospects I’ll decide then.’ Charles held his hand out to Meg who was sorting the rest of the mail. ‘Anything for me?’
She handed him a pile of envelopes, but realising she had missed one she picked it up, and was about to give it to her father when she saw that it was addressed to her. She stared at the unfamiliar writing and her heart did a funny little flip inside her chest.
‘You wouldn’t say no, would you, Pa?’ Adele’s bottom lip quivered ominously.
‘I expect I shall like him, Adele, if you do. Now run along and read your letter, there’s a good girl.’
‘You shouldn’t tease her, Charles,’ Muriel said when Adele was out of earshot. ‘You know that she’s sensitive just like me.’
‘Is she, my dear? I can’t say I’d noticed.’
Muriel turned to Meg, frowning. ‘Your breakfast is getting cold, Meg. I don’t know who’s writing to you, but put it away now and eat your food. It’s very rude to read at table.’
Meg glanced at her father and he raised his eyebrows with a wry smile. It was obvious that he knew the barbed comment was aimed his way, but as usual he did not bother to retaliate. Meg laid the envelope on her lap out of her mother’s range of vision and she studied it while she ate. The postmark was smudged and illegible, but the envelope was addressed in bold Gothic script. She hardly dared hope that it was from Rayner, and the food stuck in her throat, but she ate as quickly as she dared without incurring a lecture from her mother. She was about to ask permission to leave the table when the door burst open and Adele reappeared, waving a piece of paper. ‘Frank is coming to Guernsey next week, Mother. He and Walter are going to stay in St Peter Port for a few days.’
‘How lovely, dear. Isn’t that good news, Charles?’
‘What is?’
‘Frank Barton is coming to the island next week.’
&
nbsp; ‘Splendid. I’m going to my study, Muriel.’ Charles folded his newspaper and picked up the post. He rose from his chair. ‘I’m in court this afternoon, but this morning I’m working from home. I don’t want to be disturbed.’ He left the room unnoticed by Muriel and Adele, who were happily discussing Frank’s forthcoming visit.
Meg seized the opportunity to follow him. She slipped out of the house and went straight to the stables. Sitting on a bale of straw she ripped the envelope and stared at the single sheet of paper.
Christ Church, Oxford
4 May, 1939
Dear Meg,
I feel I owe you an apology for the trouble caused by our midnight drive. I hope you did not get into ‘hot water’, as David calls it, when you arrived home in Guernsey. I wanted to apologise in person but as you did not come to Folly Bridge, I suppose you are still angry with me. David says he cannot remember if he gave you my note or not but I am assuming that he did. I hope we will meet again, although as things are at the moment I am afraid it looks unlikely. Whatever happens, I shall never forget Meg in her gold dress or with waterweed in her hair.
My best wishes to you and your sister,
Rayner Weiss.
