Where Bluebells Chime

He had readily agreed to the military commandeering the house he had lived in all his married life, his only regret being that if there really was a hereafter, then Clemmy would be reading his thoughts and sending down her wrath against him for not putting up more of a fight of it, for Pendenys had been his wife’s pride and joy.

And on the Wednesday of the Creesby dance, Tatiana’s mother was so occupied with making sure Grandfather Sutton was welcomed and made comfortable that she had even agreed to her daughter staying late at Daisy’s house, provided she was seen safely home by eleven o’clock.

Drew and Daisy were waiting at Keeper’s Cottage when, breathless from pedalling, Tatiana propped her cycle against one of the dog houses, apologizing for being late and begging them never, ever, to tell anyone about the Creesby dance.

‘I won’t tell Aunt Anna on you,’ Drew admonished, ‘but just let’s hope, Tatty, that she doesn’t mention it to me so I don’t have to tell any lies.’

‘She won’t. She’s going to be far too busy fussing over Grandfather ever to bother. And I’m sorry I involved you in it, Daisy,’ she said contritely, as they walked to the bothy to pick up Gracie, ‘but I’ll die if I don’t see Tim again.’

‘Tatty! You haven’t fallen for him?’ Daisy demanded. ‘For heaven’s sake, you hardly know him!’

‘I do, so! I’ve known him four days and that’s time enough. Besides,’ she added defiantly, ‘I met him on Tuesday as well. We went to the top of Holdenby Pike and –’

‘Spare us the details,’ Drew grinned. ‘And we won’t snitch on you, Tatty, just so long as you watch it – you know what I’m getting at?’

‘Of course I know and you needn’t worry, Drew. I didn’t come down with the last fall of snow,’ she flung testily, though what she would do if Tim ever wanted to do that, she wasn’t entirely sure. ‘And I think you should mind your own business and watch yourself with the land girl. You’re gone on her, aren’t you?’

‘No, I’m really not. I like Gracie, though, to dance with. Now for Pete’s sake let’s get a move on or we’ll miss the bus!’

He was pleased, for all that, to see how attractive Gracie looked in the borrowed blue dress and found himself hoping that other men at the dance didn’t find her equally so. They danced well together, and tonight Gracie had promised to teach him the dip and the spin; if he could get a look-in, that was, because, on seeing her legs for the first time, it had to be admitted they were wasted in breeches and dungarees!

‘Are you all clued up for Saturday, then?’ Julia settled herself on the hearth rug, leaning her back against Nathan’s armchair.

‘The wedding? Yes. I’ve had a chat with them both and gone over the service. Mary wants the obey bit left in,’ he laughed, ‘though once she’s got the ring on her finger, I think we know who’ll be obeying.’

‘Mary has waited a long time for Will Stubbs,’ Julia defended.

‘Like I waited for you, wife.’ There was no rancour in Nathan’s voice.

‘Mm. And soon we’ll be having our second anniversary. Shall we have a bit of a do, if the rations will run to it? I tried to persuade Mother to have a party for her eightieth birthday, but she won’t hear of it. She doesn’t want reminding, she said, that she’s been living on borrowed time for the last ten years. I wish she’d let us make just a little fuss. A lot of the tenants seem to be expecting it, and Tilda’s saving some of the rations to make her just a little cake – with one big pink candle on it.’

‘I don’t think we should push her.’ Nathan wound a strand of Julia’s hair round his forefinger.

‘You could be right, love. But we might be able to pull something off. How about a get-together for our anniversary and whilst we’re about it we could toast Mother’s birthday – belatedly, sort of. There are still a few bottles of decent stuff in the cellar – why leave them for Hitler’s lot to get their hands on?’

‘Julia! I thought we’d agreed, no more invasion talk. There isn’t going to be one, I know it.’

‘Oh? Got God’s phone number, have you?’

‘No. He’s ex-directory. But it’s a gut feeling I’ve got that we’ll be all right, so let’s talk about turning our anniversary into a surprise party for your mother’s eightieth, because that’s what you really intend, isn’t it?’

‘It is, actually. We’d have to be careful – make sure she didn’t get wind of it.’

‘You’re a scheming woman, Julia Sutton.’ He wasn’t at all sure it was a good idea. Aunt Helen had aged visibly this last year. The coming of another war so soon after the last one had upset the elderly, many of whom would never quite push the carnage of the trenches behind them. And Drew joining the Navy hadn’t helped. There were times, Nathan had to admit, when Helen’s frailty worried him. ‘Scheming and devious and I don’t know why I love you so much.’

‘I’m perfect, that’s why. And stop fiddling with my hair! You’re only looking for grey bits! Now – about Mother’s birthday party. Pity it’ll be a couple of months late, but I’m determined she’ll have one. Tell you what – why don’t we hold it in the parish hall? That way we’d have a better chance of keeping it a secret, though we’d have to find a way of inveigling her down there. But I’ll think of something …’

‘I’m sure you will.’ His wife always got her own way; always had, ever since he could remember. But she was so open and charming in all she did that she got away with it every time. It was one of the things he loved about her. ‘And I’m sorry, darling, but I promised I’d look in on Father – make sure he’s settled in at Denniston. Are you coming?’

‘Not tonight, if you don’t mind. I’ll maybe take Mother over tomorrow. And don’t worry about him, Nathan. He’ll be fine with Anna and Tatty. It wasn’t good for him being all alone in that place. Best thing They ever did was commandeering Pendenys.

‘You’ll have to try to find out who’s taking it over, and what they intend using it for. Alice told me Tom saw a convoy of army lorries this afternoon that seemed to be heading in that direction. They aren’t wasting any time, are they? Give my love to Uncle Edward, won’t you?’ She rose to her feet, clasping her arms around his neck, drawing him close to kiss him. ‘And don’t be away too long,’ she murmured throatily as he left her.

Agnes Clitherow rose stiffly to her feet, the last of her possessions packed carefully into tea chests and clearly labelled for when the carrier collected them. She had delayed her departure for Scotland until after the wedding, which would give her the opportunity to say goodbye to her friends; less sad, too, since everyone would be in a happy frame of mind.

Yet leaving would not be easy. Saying goodbye to her ladyship and Miss Julia would be near-heartbreaking and need all of that self-control she had learned over the years as housekeeper to the gentry. Nor would she relish saying goodbye to Sir Andrew on Saturday morning when his leave was over. Such a fine young man Drew had grown into. Sir Giles would have been so proud of him.

Agnes Clitherow blinked away her tears, blowing her nose loudly. Packed carefully away was a silver-framed photograph of Drew she would treasure always; a memento of a fine young man who would come safely through this war, she knew it, and marry and have sons for Rowangarth. Oh please, God, he must!

Flight Sergeant Timothy Thomson was waiting outside the Plaza dance hall in Creesby when the Holdenby bus stopped outside.

‘Tim!’ Tatiana’s cheeks flushed hotly. ‘I said to meet me inside!’

‘Oh, aye? So you think I’m mean, do you? Meet my girl inside so I don’t have to pay her in?’

‘I didn’t think that at all!’ She took a step away from him because she knew he was going to kiss her and it simply wouldn’t do – not when someone from Holdenby might just be walking past. It was one of the awkward things about being a Sutton. So many people knew her. ‘But I’m glad you could make it. Were you on ops. last night?’

‘Aye, but it was only a milk run. Counts as an op. for all that. One more off my tour.’

‘Your – tour?’

‘Thirty bombing operations in a tour. Not a lot of aircrews make it to a full tour, but those that do are taken off flying for a while.’

‘And how many have you done, Tim?’

‘Last night was the eleventh, so it’s fingers crossed for the next two. Crews seem to think that once they’re over the thirteenth there’s a good chance of making it. The first op., the thirteenth and the very last of the tour are the dicey ones. But the others have gone in and we’re standing here blethering.’

They were wasting time when he needed so desperately to have her in his arms, to dance close so he could feel her breath soft on his cheek, smell the clean, sweet scent of her hair. And damned fool him, too, when he’d vowed never to get entangled with girls; to love them and leave them. Get the war over first, then concentrate on a decent degree. But now there was Tatiana and all he could do was think about her all day, then fall asleep hoping to dream about her all night. Soft in the head, he was.

‘What’s a milk run?’ Tatiana asked when the first dance was over.

‘It’s an easy op. hen – easy as delivering milk. We didn’t carry a bomb-load last night. Our lot did a diversionary run to draw their fighters away from the Dutch coast. That way, our main bomber force had a better chance of making it to the target – somewhere in the Ruhr, I think they went. You try to attract the German fighters, then climb like mad, out of their way …’

‘Hmm. And 109s can’t climb all that high, can they, and they can’t stay airborne for very long; not like our Spits and Hurries.’

‘So how come you know so much about Messerschmitts then?’ He tweaked her nose playfully.

‘Because I take a magazine called the Spotter. It’s all about planes, gives silhouettes, too – both ours and theirs so you can recognize them in the air. I’m getting quite good at it.’

‘There’s more to you, lassie, than meets the eye!’ He rose as a waltz was announced. He liked waltzing with her. The steps were slower, so he needed to hold her closer.

‘Tim?’ Tatiana moved her head so her lips were close to his ear. ‘When we met tonight, you said you weren’t so mean that you couldn’t pay for your girl to go into the dance.’

‘Aye, well – some Sassenachs think us Scots are mean.’

‘I didn’t mean that. You called me your girl. Am I your girl, Tim?’

Her eyes met his. Such big, brown, beseeching eyes.

‘If you want to be.’

‘That isn’t what I asked.’

‘Okay.’ He lowered his voice to a whisper. ‘Since you ask, Tatiana, you bowled me right over the minute I saw you. I haven’t been able to get you out of my mind since – so what have you to say to that?’

She smiled, her eyes not leaving his. They were moving more slowly now; dancing on a sixpenny piece, she supposed. And all at once they were the only people in the world.

‘Remember the night we met, Tim?’

‘Every bit of it. Which particular minute are we talking about?’

‘The one when I spoke to you in Russian.’

‘I mind fine. You said you thought I was a good dancer, didn’t you?’

‘No, darling. What I really said was, “I think I am falling in love with you.”’

‘I see. So that makes two of us.’ He said it very matter-of-factly. ‘What are we going to do about it?’

‘I don’t know. I don’t have much of a choice. I’m only eighteen, remember.’

‘No chance of marrying me, then?’

‘Not without Mother’s permission and she’d never give it.’ Her eyes pricked with tears.

‘Then it’s a pity you aren’t Scottish. You’d be considered to have sense enough to marry at eighteen there.’

‘I would? Is your law different, then?’ Her heart began to thump uncomfortably.

‘That part of it is.’

‘But I’m English.’

‘Then you’d need to live in Scotland for three weeks – become domiciled. You’d qualify then.’

The music stopped and the floor cleared, leaving just the two of them standing there, though it didn’t matter because weren’t they the only two people in the world, anyway, and in love?

‘Then when you’ve flown your thirty raids, will you ask me to marry you, Tim?’

‘I will, sweetheart.’

‘And I shall say yes …’

They smiled into each other’s eyes, then he took her hand and led her from the floor.

‘Well!’ Daisy gasped. ‘Did you see Tim and Tatty? Standing there in the middle of the floor just the two of them, gazing into each other’s eyes and not caring who sees them? She’s supposed not to be here, you know.’

‘I don’t think she cares,’ Gracie laughed. ‘Nor him. Those two are smitten, if you ask me.’

‘Lordy, I hope not,’ Drew let out his breath in a slow whistle. ‘But if they are, let’s hope Aunt Anna doesn’t find out about it. She’d hit the deck-head!’

‘Oh, I wouldn’t worry too much about her mother if I were Tatty,’ Daisy said softly. ‘But her grandmother is something else entirely. Grandma Petrovska would eat Tim Thomson alive.’

‘Yes, and spit him out in very small pieces.’ Drew was all at once uneasy. ‘What are we going to do about it, Daiz?’

‘Nothing,’ said Daisy, who knew all about falling in love. ‘Absolutely nothing. And the best of luck to them!’

8

‘Well! Did you hear the six o’clock news?’ Alice demanded hotly the minute Tom stepped through the kitchen door. ‘Think they can do anything they want, just ’cause there’s a war on!’

‘They can do anything they want!’ Tom kissed his wife’s cheek. ‘And I didn’t hear the news, so you’d better tell me.’

‘Income tax, that’s what! It’s going up to eight and sixpence in the pound in the New Year. That’s more’n a third of what folk earn – and it’s to be taken out of folks’ pay packets every week. No more paying it twice a year!’

‘Sort of pay it as you earn it,’ Tom nodded. ‘Seems fair enough to me. Mind, most folk don’t pay anything at all but let’s face it, somebody’s got to pick up the bill for this war.’

‘Well, I still don’t think it’s right! Legalized thieving, that’s what it amounts to. It wouldn’t surprise me, Tom, if both you and Daisy don’t have to start paying tax come the New Year. And there’s nothing funny about it, so you can wipe that smirk off your face!’

Alice tossed her head defiantly because to her way of thinking, taking tax out of folks’ pay packets every week was thieving!

‘Lass, lass! Daisy won’t pay tax on the pound a week she earns.’ He was careful not to mention how it would be for his daughter once she came into all that money. ‘And as for me – well, it’ll be heaven help a lot if I start paying income tax. Lady Helen and Mr Edward’ll have to worry before I will.

‘And talking about Mr Edward, I was having a word with Pendenys’ head keeper this afternoon. They haven’t told him to go yet, but he’s expecting to hear any day that the military want him off the estate. All the house staff have had to go to the Labour Exchange. They’re expecting to be put on munitions, so talk has it.’

‘Talk is cheap, Tom. What I’d like to know is what’s going on at Pendenys.’

‘And so would I! They’ve wasted no time if what I hear is true. Guard posts set up and sentries patrolling already. Barbed wire all over the place, an’ all, and Mr Edward’s only been gone five days.’

‘It’s for the King and Queen and the Princesses to come to, that’s my belief,’ Alice nodded, income tax forgotten. ‘Just wait till they start really bombing London – and start they will before so very much longer! The government’ll have the royal family out of Buckingham Palace quicker than you can say knife!’

‘The royal family, Alice? Never! What have they ever done to deserve Pendenys? If I was the military I’d make it into a prison and lock up black marketeers in it!’

‘We’ll find out if we wait long enough.’ Alice stuck the sharp point of a knife into a potato. ‘Nearly ready. Away with you and take off your boots and leggings. Daisy’ll be in soon. She’ll want her supper smartish tonight. Off to spend the evening with Drew, seeing he’s only got two more days left. Lady Helen asked especially for her to go over. Poor soul. Her ladyship’s failing if you ask me, and no one to blame for it but Hitler! Oh, but I’d like just five minutes alone with that man!’ Alice fumed because she would never, as long as she lived, forgive him for starting another war.

‘You and a million other women! Now don’t get yourself upset, love. Fretting and fratching will do you no good at all. And don’t they say that nothing is ever as bad as we think it’s going to be?’

‘And who told you that?’

‘Reuben, as a matter of fact.’ And Reuben had reminded him not so very long ago that Alice was coming to the age when women were on a short fuse and had to be handled carefully. Women that age, Reuben warned, blew hot and blew cold at the dropping of a hat, then burst into tears over nothing at all. Queer cattle women were, so think on!

‘He’s entitled to his opinion!’ Alice stirred the stew that thickened lazily on a low gas light then slammed back the lid. Jugged rabbit, stewed rabbit, savoury rabbit and rabbit roasted. Oh for a good thick rib of beef! ‘Well, go and get into your slippers. That’s Daisy’s bus now at the lane end.’

Daisy. Still no letter from the Wrens. Happen they really had forgotten her.

‘Pull up a chair, Daisy love, and have a cup. There’s still a bit of life left in the teapot.’ Polly Purvis set the kettle to boil.

Teapots were kept warm on the hob now, and hot water added to the leaves again and again until the liquid was almost too weak to come out of the spout. And she was luckier than most, Polly reckoned, having fifteen ration books to take to the shops each week. She had solved the egg problem and butter, lard and margarine she could just about manage on, but good red meat and sugar were a constant problem, especially when a land girl did the work of a man to her way of thinking, and needed a bit of packing inside her.

‘You’re all right, Polly? Not working too hard?’

‘I’m fine. The girls are a good crowd. Always popping in for a chat – mostly about boyfriends. I was lucky to get taken on here, Daisy. Keeps me busy enough and keeps my mind off – well, things. And by the way, I had a letter from Keth this morning.’

‘And?’ Daisy raised an eyebrow, not needing to ask the one question that bothered them both.

‘Not one word about that. I asked him outright last time I wrote just what he was doing in Washington, but no straight answer. The job is fine is all I’m told and that he’s saving money. Ought to be grateful for that, at least – our Keth with money in the bank! And he’s obviously managed to get himself a work permit. His letters are cheerful enough and at least he’s safe.’

‘That’s what I keep telling myself, Polly. Sometimes I wouldn’t care if he stayed in America till the war is over. Not very patriotic of me, is it, when Drew’s already in it?’

‘I feel that way, too.’ Polly stirred the tea thoughtfully. ‘But folks hereabouts understand that he’s stranded over there. I don’t feel any shame that he isn’t in the fighting. Wouldn’t want him to suffer like his father did. My Dickon came back from the trenches a bitter man.’

‘Don’t worry.’ Daisy reached for Polly’s hand. ‘One day it will all be over. Just think how marvellous it’ll be! No more blackout, no more air raids and the shops full of things to buy.’

‘And no more killing and wounding and men being blinded.’

‘No more killing,’ Daisy echoed sadly.

‘But you’ll give my best regards to Drew when you see him tonight, won’t you?’ Polly said, rallying. ‘Wish him all the luck in the world from me and Keth?’

‘I think he’ll pop in for a word with you before he goes, but don’t say goodbye to him, will you, Polly? He said sailors are very superstitious about it. You’ve got to say cheerio, or so long, or see you. I think Drew’s going to be all right, though. Jinny Dobb told me he’d come to no harm; said he had a good aura around him. Jin’s a clairvoyant, you know. She can see death in a face – and she isn’t often wrong, either way.’

‘Then I reckon I’d better ask her over for a cup of tea and she can read my cup – tell me when Keth’s going to get himself back home. Mind, I’d settle for knowing just what he’s up to and if he’s getting enough to eat.’

‘And I would give the earth just to speak to him for – oh, twenty seconds; ask him how he is.’

‘Oh, for shame!’ Polly laughed. ‘You could do a lot better’n asking him how he is in twenty seconds! Now then, how about that cup of tea?’ She began to pour, then laughed again. ‘Oh, my goodness! Did I say tea?’

‘Well, at least it’s hot.’ Daisy joined in the laughter because you had to laugh. If you didn’t, then life would sometimes be simply unbearable.

‘I won’t come over tomorrow night, Drew. I think you should spend it with Aunt Julia and Lady Helen. I’ll be there on Saturday, though, to wave you off.’

The July evening was warm and scented with a mix of honeysuckle and meadowsweet and the uncut hedge was thick with wild white roses. Beneath the trees, on the edge of the wild garden, tiny spotted orchids grew, and lady’s-slipper and purple tufted vetch.

Drew reached for Daisy’s hand, remembering scents and sounds and scenes, storing them in his mind so he might bring them out again some moment when he was in need of them.

‘My ten days have gone very quickly. It seemed like for ever when I got on the train at Plymouth. I think Grandmother is feeling it. Her indigestion is playing her up again, but I’m not to tell Mother, she says. I think she’s had it for quite a while. It’s the war. I think she remembers the last one, and gets a bit afraid. You’ll always pop over to see her, won’t you, Daiz?’

‘Of course I will. I love her a lot, and she was once Mam’s mother-in-law and Mam loves her, too. We’ll see she doesn’t fret too much when you’ve gone back – and there’ll be Mary’s wedding in the afternoon to help take her mind off your going back.’

They skirted the wild garden and crossed the lawn to the linden walk. The leaves on the trees were still fresh with spring greenness and their newly opened flowers threw a sweet, heady perfume over them.

‘Just smell the linden blossom, Daiz. I think I shall take it back with me to barracks – maybe think of it when I’m at sea in a gale, and being sick.’

‘You won’t be sick! Where do you think they’ll send you?’

‘Haven’t a clue. They say big ships are more comfortable, but if I had a choice, I think I’d go for something small and more matey – perhaps a frigate. And having said that,’ he grinned, ‘I’ll end up on an aircraft carrier, most likely. Wouldn’t mind Ark Royal. There’s always been an Ark Royal in the British Navy. There was one, even, in Henry Tudor’s time.’

‘Drew! Don’t go for Ark! Every week, Lord Haw-Haw says the Germans have sunk her!’

‘And every week we know they haven’t. Still, I won’t have a say in the matter. I’m a name and a number for the duration. I do as I’m told. Chiefie in signal school told us to keep our noses clean and our eyes down and we’d be all right. And that’s what I shall do – and count the days to my next leave.’

‘Drew – do you remember how it used to be?’ They had reached the iron railings that separated Rowangarth land from the fields of Home Farm, and stopped to gaze at the shorthorn cows grazing in Fifteen-acre Meadow. ‘It seems no time at all since that last Christmas the Clan was together. Remember? Aunt Julia took a snap of us all. Keth, me, Bas and Kitty and you and Tatty. In the conservatory. We’d all been dancing …’

‘I remember. After that, Uncle Albert started getting a bit huffy about coming over from Kentucky twice a year, but that last summer we were all together was fun, wasn’t it – except for Aunt Clemmy and the fire in Pendenys tower?’

‘And Bas’s hands getting burned. I’m glad Mr Edward had that tower demolished – what was left of it.’

‘Poor Aunt Clemmy. It was an awful way to die. I think, really, it was because she took to brandy after Uncle Elliot was killed. He was her favourite son, Grandmother said. She never got over it. Elliot was her whole life, I believe.’