Contents
Title Page
Epigraph
Chapter I
Chapter II
Chapter III
Chapter IV
Chapter V
Chapter VI
Chapter VII
Chapter VIII
Chapter IX
Chapter X
L’ENVOI
Copyright
Si vous entrez dans une public house, n’offrez jamais de pourboire à la barmaid, car c’est une dame …
ANDRE MAUROIS: Conseils à un jeune
Français partant pour l’Angleterre
I
THE car, a chilly little open sports two-seater, drew away from the dim bulk of the dance-hall. It accelerated with a crescendo of noise quite disproportionate to its performance and made off down the sea front, its one masked headlamp showing a feeble glimmer in the utter darkness. Presently it took a turning through the park towards the town. The steady rumble of the engine became intermittent; then there was a crashing report and a sheet of yellow flame from the exhaust-pipe. It drew up to a standstill underneath the trees.
In the cramped seat the driver was conscious of the girl’s shoulder pressed against his own; only his heavy coat prevented him from feeling the warmth of her thigh. He turned to her. “I don’t know what’s the matter with it,” he said. “It won’t go any more.”
She said: “Oh yes, it will. Start it up again.”
He said: “I’ll try if you like. But I don’t think it’ll go. It does this sometimes.”
“Go on and start it.”
He pushed the starter. The lights, already dim, went down to a dull red glow and the worn engine turned feebly. “It won’t go,” he said, and there was a hint of laughter in his voice. “It’s the rain or something.”
She stirred beside him. “I can get a bus from the corner.”
He said: “Don’t go. There’s a horse coming in a minute.”
“What horse?”
“The horse that’s coming to tow us home. It won’t be long now. You can give it a lump of sugar, but you must hold your hand flat. Otherwise you lose a finger.”
There was a light rain falling. In the darkness beneath the flapping fabric of the hood she stared at him. “Whatever are you talking about?”
“The horse. You can stroke its nose, if you like. I’ll hold it for you.”
“Where are you going to get a horse from?”
He said: “It’ll turn up. We’ve only got to sit here for a little while, and it’ll come.”
“I’ll sit here till the next bus comes.”
“All right. What’s your name?”
She hesitated. “You want to know everything, don’t you?”
“Well, it’s not much to ask. You’re going to spend the night with me, and you won’t tell me your name.”
She was startled and upset. “I don’t know what you mean,” she said. She fumbled for the handle of the door.
There was laughter in his voice. “Well, you said you’d stay here till the next bus came. It’s after half-past twelve—there won’t be any more till morning. So you’ll have to sit here all night. I do think you might tell me your name.”
She relaxed. “You do say the most awful things!”
“What have I done now? You’ve done nothing but pull me up all evening.”
“You know what you said.”
“I know. I asked you to tell me your name, and you won’t tell me. I believe you’re an enemy alien and you think I’ll put the police on you.”
“I promise you I’ll take you home the minute the horse comes. In the meantime, I do think you might tell me who you are.”
She giggled. “You’ve seen me often enough.”
“I know I have. That’s what’s worrying me.”
“I know who you are.”
He turned to her, immensely conscious of her presence. “Do you?”
She nodded. “You come from Emsworth aerodrome. They call you Jerry, don’t they?”
“Oh—yes. Everybody calls me Jerry. How did you know that?”
“Never you mind. What’s Jerry short for? Gerald?”
“No—Chambers. Roderick Chambers. But you may call me Jerry.”
She turned her head. “You do say horrid things.”
“Well, you said that one. Tell me, what is your name? I’ve told you mine.”
She relented. “Mona Stevens.”
“Mona.” He paused, and then he said: “That’s rather a nice name.”
She was pleased. “It is, isn’t it? I mean, there aren’t so many Monas about. Better than being called Emily, or something of that.”
He turned to her. “Tell me, where do you work?”
She laughed at him. “Think hard.”
“I am thinking. You aren’t the old charwoman who cleans out my bedroom, by any chance?”
“No, I’m not.”
“I thought not. It’s a pity.”
She turned the subject. “I know what you had for supper tonight,” she said.
He stared at her. “What did I have?”
“Steak and chips, and then you had a bit of Stilton cheese. And you had about three half cans of bitter.”
He said, astonished: “You’re clairvoyant.” She shook her head. “Then you smelt my breath.”
She turned her head away. “Don’t be so rude.”
He thought for a minute. “Well then, you were in the ‘Royal Clarence’ tonight, anyway.” Recollection came to him in a wave. “Of course. You work at the ‘Royal Clarence’—in the snack-bar.”
She mocked him. “Aren’t you ever so quick?”
He said weakly: “I knew that all the time, of course. I was just pulling your leg.”
“You do tell stories.”
“No—honestly. You don’t think I’m the sort of chap who goes to the Pavilion to pick up girls, do you?”
“Well, what else did you go to the Pavilion for?”
He said loftily: “I went there to dance.”
She bubbled into laughter. “I’d like to have seen you dancing with them other officers you came in with.”
“You don’t quite understand. We had a party all fixed up; the ladies were to meet us there. There was Ginger Rogers and Merle Oberon and Loretta Young—oh, and several others. Greta couldn’t come.”
She said a little doubtfully: “I don’t believe you. What happened to them?”
“They didn’t turn up. So then I looked around and you were the only person in the room I knew, so I asked you if you’d dance with me.”
“You do tell ’em. You never recognised me at all.”
He said: “You hurt me very much when you talk like that.”
“It’ld take a hatpin to hurt you.”
A little shift of wind blew a few drops of rain from off the dripping hood in on to the girl. “Here,” she said. “It’s raining in all over me. Go on, and take me home.”
“The horse will be here in a minute—then we’ll all go home together. You can have a ride on it, if you like. Look, I’ve got a rug here.” He reached round to the little space behind the seats, dragged a rug out between their shoulders, and arranged it over her. It was quite necessary to reach round her back to do so; she moved a little closer to him and his arm remained around her shoulders.
She said: “What do you do out at the aerodrome?”
He said: “Fly aeroplanes.”
“That’s what them wings on your chest mean, isn’t it?
“That’s it. I carry them as spares.”
“Are you a squadron-leader, or something?”
He said: “Or something. I’m a flying officer.”
“What sort of things do you do when you go flying? Have you shot down any Germans?”
“They don’t come ne
ar these parts, thank God. All we do is to go out over the sea and report what ships we see.”
“It must be frightfully exciting.”
“We get bored to tears.”
He turned to her; they drew a little closer. “You’ve not been at the ‘Royal Clarence’ very long, have you?”
“Six months. You don’t notice, that’s what’s the matter with you.”
He said: “We won’t go into that again. What did you do before that?”
“Worked in the corset factory—Flexo’s. I got there when I came away from school, and stayed there ever since. But that’s no kind of life, in the factory all day. I was always on to my old man about it, and last year he said, well, I was twenty-one and I could please myself. So then I went to Mr. Williams at the ‘Royal Clarence’ because my uncle knows him at the Darts Club, and he spoke to the manager for me. So then I started in the snack-bar.”
“It’s more fun there, I should think, than making corsets all day long.”
“Ever so much. But then I wasn’t on the corsets. I was on bust bodices.”
He said innocently: “What’s the difference?”
“Why—a bust bodice is what you …” She checked herself. “You know well enough what it is. You’re just being awful.”
In the warm darkness underneath the rug his arm reached round her shoulders and his hand lay at her side. He moved his fingers. “Honestly, I don’t know what it is. Is this one?”
“No, it’s not. Give over, or I’ll get out and walk home.”
“I only wanted to find out.”
“Well, look in the papers. There’s pages of them in the advertising.”
“I don’t read the advertisements. I think they’re low.”
“Not half so low as what you’re doing now. Give over, or I will get out and walk. Really and truly.”
“It’s raining—you’ll get soaked.”
“That’ll be your fault.”
“You’ll get double pneumonia, and die. You’ve not got enough clothes on to go wandering round the streets at this time of night, in a howling blizzard.”
“Never you mind what I’ve got on—it’s nothing to do with you.”
“Have it your own way. I was going to buy you a beautiful ermine cloak trimmed with—with birds of paradise. Still, if you take that line, I’ll have to get you something else. What about a stick of Southsea rock?”
“You do talk crazy. I don’t believe you’ve got a stick of Southsea rock, nor an ermine cloak, either.”
He said: “I’ve got a cigarette.”
With a number of contortions they managed to light cigarettes without disturbing the position of his arm, which lay around her shoulders; their movements shuffled them closer together. For a few minutes they sat smoking quietly.
A figure loomed up on the pavement beside Chambers, a figure in a tin hat and a dripping raincoat. It paused beside the little car; from the driver’s seat the young man recognised an air-raid warden on his rounds.
The warden said: “I should move on and go home now, if I was you. Getting a bit late, isn’t it?”
Chambers said: “I can’t. The car’s broken down. We’re waiting here till a horse comes along to tow us home.”
“You don’t suppose I’ll swallow that one, do you?”
“Well, the lady did. If it’s good enough for her, it’s good enough for you.”
The warden coughed, and spoke in to the car. “I should make him take you home now, miss.”
The girl did not speak. Chambers said: “I think you’d better go away and leave off bothering us.”
The warden thrust his thumbs into his belt. He was fifty-six years old, and an accountant in his working hours. He said: “No parking allowed on these common roads after black-out. We got to keep them clear in case of fire-engines, and that. You’ll have to move along. You can park in the station yard if you’re going on all night.”
He had played his trump card, and he knew it. Reluctantly Chambers reached out to the starter switch; the engine turned feebly and began to fire on three cylinders; presently the fourth chipped in. The pilot withdrew his arm from the girl’s shoulders. “I think he’s got us there,” he said. “We’ll have to go.”
She nodded. “He’s got a nerve,” she said in a low voice. “Nothing to do with him.”
Chambers said, equally low: “It’s not worth a row. Besides, he’s right about these roads. There’s a notice up about it.”
He let in the clutch and the car moved away. The girl drew the rug about her and sat a little more erect. They drove into Portsmouth in the utter darkness, a town without street lights or lit windows. The dim light of his one shaded headlamp lit the road immediately before them; everything else was black and silent.
He found her house at last, a building at the corner of a shabby street. It seemed to be a second-hand furniture shop in rather a poor way; he drew up by the side door of the shop.
She said: “I had a lovely evening, ever such fun. Thank you ever so much for bringing me home.”
He said: “I’m glad Ginger Rogers couldn’t come. You dance much better.”
“You do talk soft.”
“Would you like to do it again?”
“All right.”
“What about tomorrow?”
“If you like. Same time at the Pavilion?”
“I’ll have to shake off Loretta Young, but I can get rid of her all right. I’ll tell her I’ve got chicken-pox. Half-past ten?”
“All right.”
“Is this where I kiss you?”
“No, it’s not.”
“You’re wrong.”
Presently she got out of the car and stood for a moment in a shadowy doorway, slim and erect, waving him good night. He started up the worn engine of the little sports car again and drove out of the city on to the country roads.
The girl pulled the door behind her and bolted it, turned out the flickering gas-jet, and went up the narrow stairs to her room. She trod softly on the oilcloth and shut her door furtively behind her, because she did not want to wake her mother. Her mother never minded whom she went about with, but liked her to be home by midnight.
She had a room to herself, being the only one of the children still at home. Her brother Bert was in the Navy, a leading seaman in the Firedrake; he was away from England. They thought he was somewhere in the South Atlantic; it was six weeks since they had heard from him. It had had to be the Navy, of course. Her father had served for nearly thirty years, finishing up as a chief petty officer. He had a small pension, and the shop made a profit of a few shillings a week, enough for them to get along on.
Millie, her sister, had shared the room with her till the beginning of the war; she had been working at the corset factory. A panic reduction had thrown Millie out of work with a hundred and fifty other girls; she had then joined the A.T.S. and was doing canteen work at Camp Bordon. She looked very smart in her khaki uniform; Mona sometimes regretted that she had not done the same. But it was more fun in the snack-bar, with everybody having a good time, and all the officers drinking with their ladies, and that.
The room was cold; she undressed quickly and jumped into bed. Was that a bust bodice, indeed! The cheeky thing! Probably he only said it to tease her. She never had heard anybody talk so silly, but it was fun being out with him. She was glad he had asked her to dance again. He was ever so tall, six foot two at least; the long blue greatcoat and the little blue forage cap stuck sideways on his black hair made him look taller still. She thought he was older than she was, twenty-three or twenty-four perhaps. He had a very young face, with pink cheeks.
She liked him. She was glad to be going out with him again; it was something to look forward to.
Jerry, they called him. It was really awful; a typical officer’s joke.
Very soon she was asleep.
Ten miles away Chambers turned his noisy little car in at the gateway leading to the officers’ mess and parked it in the open-sided garage barn. He draped
the rug over the radiator in case of frost and went into the mess. It was a good mess, a solid building of red brick designed by a good architect and put up about ten years previously. It was overcrowded now; the aerodrome accommodated five squadrons instead of the two that had been the establishment in peace-time. A cluster of bedroom huts were springing up on what had been the tennis-courts, but Chambers had a bedroom in the original building. He had been there since he had left Cranwell three years previously.
There was still one light burning in the ante-room; he crossed the room and studied the operations board. The weather report for the morning was there; cloud ten-tenths at a thousand feet. Sleepily he made a grimace; still, it was December and you couldn’t expect much else. He scanned the other notices on the board. Battle practice in Area SQ from 1200 to 1400—that wouldn’t worry him. Experimental flying in Area TD at 1,000—that might be interesting. AA gunnery practice from Departure Point in Area SL—that was off his beat. There was nothing that concerned him.
He looked at his watch; it was half-past one. He went up to his room.
His room was comfortable enough, though furnished with a Spartan simplicity. There was an iron bedstead with a clean white counterpane; his batman had turned down the bed and put out his pyjamas. The walls were cream distempered, and the paint was grey. There was a small wash-basin with running water, a small radiator, and a large painted tallboy for his clothes. There was a double photograph of his father and mother on the mantelpiece, and a couple of detective novels. There was a large deal table in the window, and most of his private life revolved around this table.
He kept his letters in its drawers, and his fountain-pen, and the bottle of ink, and all the oddments that he would have liked to carry with him in his pockets if it had not been for spoiling the set of his tunic. On it stood his wireless set, a jumble of valves, chokes and condensers on a plain deal board innocent of any covering. He had put it together himself; it got America beautifully. Beside it was his galleon. He had bought the kit of parts to make the galleon a couple of months previously and he was laboriously rigging the yards with cotton thread according to the book of the words, and painting it with the little pots of brightly-coloured pigments supplied with the kit. It was about half finished.