Henrietta Sees It Through (18 page)

I took George and the suitcases up to the attic, which Charles and I have emptied three times because of incendiary bombs, but which always seems to fill up again almost immediately.

‘Beautiful,' I said

‘You see?' said George, unlocking one of the suitcases and taking out a Boot.

‘Beautiful,' I said reverently, for Charles has taught me to appreciate a good riding boot when I see one. ‘You don't want them rubbed with banana skins or anything, do you?'

‘No, no. Just leave them in their cases. This pair belongs to Big Feet.'

‘I shall be able to creep inside if we have bad air raids.'

But George wasn't laughing at my jokes that day. He stood up. ‘Goodbye, Henrietta,' he said. ‘You, and Charles and the Linnet——' He made a vague gesture with his hands. ‘I shall treasure the memory of your friendship till I die.'

‘Oh, George!'

We walked downstairs hand in hand. In the hall I kissed him and said ‘God bless you.' George said, ‘I'll write to you from Paris.' Then he said, ‘Whoo-hoo,' and waggled his behind as he walked up the steps to the yard.

Always your affectionate Childhood's Friend,

H
ENRIETTA

 

 

 

August 9, 1944

M
Y
D
EAR
R
OBERT

We have been having a terribly anxious time with little Mrs Simpkins, who fell downstairs and broke her leg. It all happened last Wednesday evening when she took one of her Evacuees, who had a cold, some blackcurrant tea to drink in bed. Colonel Simpkins was sitting downstairs reading
The Times
, and he suddenly heard the most awful thumping and bumping, and when he rushed out into the hall there was little Mrs Simpkins at the bottom of the stairs in what novelists call a Crumpled Heap.

Mrs Simpkins fell downstairs

When Charles and I arrived, she was sitting up looking white, and with one of her feet pointing at a very peculiar angle indeed. Colonel Simpkins, like all husbands who love their wives and are anxious about them, was being cross.

‘Why didn't you put on the
light
, my dear Emily?' he was saying in an exasperated way as Charles knelt down beside her and put a finger on her pulse.

‘I'm perfectly all right, Charles dear,' she said, closing her eyes. ‘If somebody would just open a window somewhere——'

‘Got any brandy Colonel?' said Charles.

‘I never touch it,' said little Mrs Simpkins weakly, resting her head on Charles's shoulder.

‘I know you don't,' said Charles in his soothing way, ‘but this is Medicine.' He gave me a Look and I went upstairs. I had a feeling that Mrs Simpkins was the sort of person who would have a medicine glass in a small cupboard in her bedroom, along with the tablets, the liniment and the lozenges. I was right.

Brandy proffered in a medicine glass is a very different thing from brandy in a wine glass, and little Mrs Simpkins sipped it gratefully while Charles went out to his car to fetch some splints.

When he came back she was sitting up, looking a good deal pinker. ‘That's right, Charles, dear,' she said. ‘Just put one of those things on and then you and Alexander must help me upstairs.'

‘You're for the hospital, my dear,' said Charles.

Little Mrs Simpkins opened wide china-blue eyes. ‘
Hospital
?' she said. ‘Don't be ridiculous, Charles. Who's going to look after Alexander?'

‘I can look after myself perfectly well, thank you, my dear Emily,' said Colonel Simpkins testily.

‘You can't,' said little Mrs Simpkins, glaring at him.

‘He can look after himself better if he hasn't got to keep rushing up and down stairs with trays for you,' I said.

‘And Mrs Whinebite can have the Evacuees,' said Charles.

‘Oh, dear,' said little Mrs Simpkins, her lip trembling. Then Charles and Colonel Simpkins carried her out to the car and she was driven away, and I went upstairs to pack some of her old-world nighties into a suitcase.

It turned out to be a bad break, and little Mrs Simpkins had to be under an anaesthetic for quite a long time before the Great Bone Chief from our Cathedral City got it straight. She stood the operation splendidly and was as brave as a lion, and then, three days afterwards, she suddenly gave up trying and turned her face to the wall. ‘I'm tired,' she said. ‘The war has gone on too long.'

‘Goodness!' said Charles, ‘you mustn't give in now the end is in sight.'

But little Mrs Simpkins kept on saying, ‘I'm tired,' and Charles began to look grave.

Colonel Simpkins was beside himself with grief and anxiety. He kept on coming into our house and puffing out his cheeks in a distraught way, and saying: ‘I blame myself; I should have done more to help her.'

Three days of this began to get me down. ‘Now, look here,' I said, ‘it's silly to talk like that. You know perfectly well you are the Model Husband. Only last week Mr Savernack said he was sick of having you held up to him as an example because you dust the drawing room as well as doing the boiler.'

This pleased Colonel Simpkins, but he soon began to puff out his cheeks and look miserable again, and in the end I promised I would go and see little Mrs Simpkins and point out to her that she was behaving selfishly.

When I arrived at the hospital she was lying with her eyes shut looking very frail. ‘How are you, darling?' I said.

‘Tired,' said little Mrs Simpkins, without opening her eyes. ‘Tired.'

‘You
are
trying your hardest to get better, aren't you?'

‘No,' said little Mrs Simpkins.

‘But think of poor Colonel Simpkins.'

‘Alexander is a most fascinating man,' said little Mrs Simpkins. She then mentioned the names of several elderly spinsters and widows, any of whom she considered would make Colonel Simpkins a satisfactory second wife.

‘But if you die you may find that you have to work just as hard in the next world.'

‘Oh no, dear,' said little Mrs Simpkins. ‘The Lord wouldn't do a thing like that. Not to an old woman who's had Evacuees.'

This defeated me and I sat in silence for several minutes. Then I said: ‘They've been trying to blow up Hitler.'

Mrs Simpkins opened her eyes for the first time. ‘Who has?' she said.

‘The German Generals.'

‘It was a failure?'

‘Yes. But they blew his trousers off and singed his back hair.'

Little Mrs Simpkins began to laugh weakly. ‘Really!' she said. ‘How very humorous! His trousers! Dear me!'

‘People seem to think there will soon be civil war in Germany.'

‘Why didn't you tell me this before, Henrietta?' said little Mrs Simpkins, sitting up in bed.

‘Everybody is frightfully pleased and excited, except poor Colonel Simpkins, who keeps on worrying and worrying about you all the time.'

‘He needn't worry any more,' said little Mrs Simpkins, ‘I'm going to get better. Back hair, indeed! I haven't been so amused for a long time.'

Always your affectionate Childhood's Friend,

H
ENRIETTA

 

 

 

September 6, 1944

M
Y
D
EAR
R
OBERT

I met Lady B on the cliff path a few days ago. She was carrying a basket which was much too heavy for her and puffing slightly. I took the basket from her and led her to a seat. She sat there in silence for a few minutes, breathing deeply, then she said, ‘Henrietta, I am a wicked woman.'

‘Good gracious, Lady B, darling!' I said. ‘What have you been doing?'

‘It isn't doing, it's thinking,' said Lady B darkly.

‘What have you been thinking?' I said with deep interest, for Lady B's thoughts are always piquant and sometimes surprising.

‘Here we are with all this beauty——' she waved her hand at the sparkling sea, ‘no sirens, no tip-and-runs——days of sunshine and nights without fear——' She paused.

‘Well?'

‘And when people from London tell me Flying Bomb Stories I want to bang them on the head.'

‘That's nothing,' I said, ‘I've wanted to do that for some time.'

‘It's jealousy, of course,' said Lady B, ‘because we can't tell Flying Bomb Stories ourselves which show us up in a good light.'

‘And partly because we're in a hurry. It took me three-quarters of an hour to get up the Street yesterday to buy a stamp.'

‘I'm thinking of having a little placard pinned to my bo som, saying, “I think you were SIMPLY WONDERFUL.” '

‘I don't mind the “My dear, I ran screaming into the Tube” ones a bit. Do you?'

‘Not a bit. It's the ones that end, “Of course, I never moved from my desk; somebody must Set an Example” that get me down. I always feel so terribly sorry for the other people in the room who get under the table.'

‘And, of course, they are just a wee bit cross with us for not having the Flying Bombs here.'

‘It's perfectly natural. I should be exactly the same myself. But I tell you what, Henrietta,' said Lady B, prodding my knee with her forefinger and gazing earnestly into my face, ‘I think we British, as a nation, will have to go easy on Bomb Stories to the Americans after the war, or they'll all hate us.'

‘You're dead right.'

‘It's a pity,' said Lady B, with a sigh. ‘I was looking forward to getting hold of an American woman and telling her about the time the bomb hit our church.'

‘And how you went on with your lunch and never moved!'

‘Exactly!' said Lady B, with a twinkle. ‘Well, Henrietta, I must say I feel purged and refreshed by this confession. In future, I am going to look upon Bomb Stories, and being despised and told I don't know there's a war on, and feeling guilty about it, as part of my War Work. I have
always said Knitting Is Not Enough, even for an old woman.'

‘I used to think that as soon as I'd got Evacuees I'd feel better about everything, but they're so nice I've begun to feel guilty again.'
*

‘I
am
glad they're nice,' said Lady B. ‘How is Charles reacting?'

‘Marvellously.'

‘Dear Charles!' said Lady B, and then we went home.

I found the Admiral on our doorstep. As soon as I saw his face I knew something must have happened to Teddy, their younger boy, in France. ‘We've had bad news, Henrietta,' he said. ‘I expect you can guess what it is.'

I nodded and took his hand.

‘Alice wanted me to tell you, Charles being his godfather and everything. I think she'd like to see you, if you feel you can face it.'

We found Mrs Admiral frying some fish for lunch. She was quite calm, but her face looked different. I put my arms round her and kissed her, and then took the frying pan out of her hand. The Admiral looked at us helplessly for a moment and then went out of the room. Mrs Admiral sat down on a kitchen chair and picked up
a corner of her apron and examined it closely. ‘I keep thinking about him when he was a little boy,' she said in a careful voice.