A few weeks later Becky told me that she had missed her period. I swore that I would keep her secret but did not hesitate to inform Charlie the same day. When he heard the news he nearly went berserk. What made matters worse was that he had to go on pretending whenever he saw the girl that he wasn’t aware of anything untoward.
“I swear if that bastard Trentham were back in England I’d kill him,” Charlie kept repeating, as he went on one of his route marches round the drawing room.
“If he were in England I can think of at least three girls whose fathers would happily carry out the job for you,” I retorted.
“So what am I meant to do about it?” Charlie asked me at last.
“Not a lot,” I advised. “I suspect time—and eight thousand miles—may well turn out to be your greatest allies.”
The colonel also fell into the category of those who would have happily shot Guy Trentham, given half a chance, in his case because of the honor of the regiment and all that. He even murmured something sinister about going to see Major Trentham and giving it to him straight. I could have told him that the major wasn’t the problem. However, I wasn’t sure if the colonel, even with his vast experience of different types of enemy, had ever come up against anyone as formidable as Mrs. Trentham.
It must have been around this time that Percy Wiltshire was finally discharged from the Scots Guards. Lately I had stopped worrying about his mother telephoning me. During those dreadful years between 1916 and 1919 I always assumed it would be a message to say that Percy had been killed on the Western Front, as his father and elder brother had been before him. It was to be years before I admitted to the dowager marchioness whenever she called how much I dreaded hearing her voice on the other end of the line.
Then quite suddenly Percy asked me to marry him. I fear from that moment on I became so preoccupied with our future together and being expected to visit so many of his family that I quite neglected my duty to Becky, even though I had allowed her to take over the flat. Then, almost before I could look round, she had given birth to little Daniel. I only prayed that she could face the inevitable stigma.
It was some months after the christening that I decided to pay a surprise visit to the flat on my way back from a weekend in the country with Percy’s mother.
When the front door opened I was greeted by Charlie, a newspaper tucked under his arm, while Becky, who was sitting on the sofa, appeared to be darning a sock. I looked down to watch Daniel crawling towards me at a rate of knots. I took the child in my arms before he had the chance to head off down the stairs and out into the world.
“How lovely to see you,” Becky said, jumping up. “It’s been ages. Let me make you some tea.”
“Thank you,” I said, “I only came round to make sure you are free on—” My eyes settled on a little oil that hung above the mantelpiece.
“What a truly beautiful picture,” I remarked.
“But you must have seen the painting many times before,” Becky said. “After all, it was in Charlie’s—”
“No, I’ve never seen it before,” I replied, not sure what she was getting at.
CHAPTER
14
The day the gold-edged card arrived at Lowndes Square Daphne placed the invitation between the one requesting her presence in the Royal Enclosure at Ascot and the command to attend a garden party at Buckingham Palace. However, she considered that this particular invitation could well remain on the mantelpiece for all to gaze upon long after Ascot and the palace had been relegated to the wastepaper basket.
Although Daphne had spent a week in Paris selecting three outfits for the three different occasions, the most striking of them was to be saved for Becky’s degree ceremony, which she now described to Percy as “the great event.”
Her fiancé—though she hadn’t yet become quite used to thinking of Percy in that way—also admitted that he had never been asked to such a ceremony before.
Brigadier Harcourt-Browne suggested that his daughter should have Hoskins drive them to the Senate House in the Rolls, and admitted to being a little envious at not having been invited himself.
When the morning finally dawned, Percy accompanied Daphne to lunch at the Ritz, and once they had been over the guest list and the hymns that would be sung at the service for the umpteenth time, they turned their attention to the details of the afternoon outing.
“I do hope we won’t be asked any awkward questions,” said Daphne. “Because one thing’s for certain, I will not know the answers.”
“Oh, I’m sure we won’t be put to any trouble like that, old gel,” said Percy. “Not that I’ve ever attended one of these shindigs before. We Wiltshires aren’t exactly known for troubling the authorities on these matters,” he added, laughing, which so often came out sounding like a cough.
“You must get out of that habit, Percy. If you are going to laugh, laugh. If you’re going to cough, cough.”
“Anything you say, old gel.”
“And do stop calling me ‘old gel.’ I’m only twenty-three, and my parents endowed me with a perfectly acceptable Christian name.”
“Anything you say, old gel,” repeated Percy.
“You haven’t been listening to a word I’ve said.” Daphne checked her watch. “And now I do believe it’s time we were on our way. Better not be late for this one.”
“Quite right,” he replied, and called a waiter to bring them their bill.