The Sins of the Father (The Clifton Chronicles 2)

'I don't know a lot about Noel Coward,' he admitted as he handed her the programme, 'but I've just been reading a synopsis of the play, and it turns out to be about a man and a woman who can't make up their mind who they should marry.'

Maisie said nothing as they entered the stalls. She began to follow the letters of the alphabet backwards until she reached H. When they made their way to the centre of the row, she wondered how Mike had managed to get such superb seats for a sold-out show.

Once the lights faded and the curtain rose, he took her hand. He only let go when Owen Nares made his entrance, and the audience burst into applause. Maisie became entranced by the story, even if it was a little too close for comfort. But the spell was broken when the loud whine of a siren drowned out Mr Nares's words. An audible groan went up around the auditorium, as the actors hurried off stage to be replaced by the theatre manager, who efficiently organized an exit strategy that would have gladdened the heart of a regimental sergeant major. Bristolians had long been familiar with flying visits from Germans who had no intention of paying for their theatre tickets.

Mike and Maisie made their way out of the theatre and down the steps to a bleak but familiar shelter that had become a home from home for regular theatregoers. The audience grabbed any place that was available for the unticketed performance. The great social equalizer, as Clement Attlee had described life in an air-raid shelter.

'Not my idea of a date,' said Mike, placing his jacket on the stone floor.

'When I was young,' said Maisie, as she sat down on the jacket, 'many a young fellow tried to get me down here, but you're the first one who's succeeded.' Mike laughed, as she began to scribble something on the cover of the programme.

'I'm flattered,' he said, placing an arm gently around her shoulder as the ground started to shake with bombs that sounded perilously close. 'You've never been to America, have you, Maisie?' he asked, trying to take her mind off the air raid.

'I've never been to London,' admitted Maisie. 'In fact, the furthest I've ever travelled is to Weston-super-Mare and Oxford, and as both trips turned out to be disastrous, I'd be perhaps better off staying at home.'

Mike laughed. 'I'd love to show you America,' he said, 'particularly the south.'

'I think we'd have to ask the Germans to take a few nights off before we could consider doing that,' said Maisie as the all-clear sounded.

A ripple of applause burst out in the shelter, and everyone emerged from the unscheduled interval and made their way back into the theatre.

Once they'd taken their seats, the theatre manager walked on to the stage. 'The performance will continue with no interval,' he announced. 'But should the Germans decide to pay us another visit, it will have to be cancelled. I'm sorry to say there will be no refunds. German regulations,' he announced. A few people laughed.

Within moments of the curtain going back up, Maisie once again lost herself in the story, and when the actors finally took their bows, the whole audience rose in appreciation, not only for the performance, but for another small victory over the Luftwaffe, as Mike described it.

'Harvey's or the Pantry?' asked Mike as he picked up the programme, on which each letter of the play's title had been crossed out and rewritten below, arranged in alphabetical order, A E E I I L P R S T V V.

'The Pantry,' said Maisie, not wanting to admit that on the one occasion she'd been to Harvey's with Patrick, she'd spent the entire evening glancing around the tables dreading the thought that Lord Harvey's daughter Elizabeth might be dining there with Hugo Barrington.

Mike took a long time studying the menu, which surprised Maisie, because the choice of dishes was so limited. He usually chatted about what was taking place back at camp, or the fort as he liked to call it, but not tonight; not even the oft-repeated grumbles about limeys not understanding baseball. She began to wonder if he wasn't feeling well.

'Is everything all right, Mike?' she asked.

He looked up. 'They're sending me back to the States,' he said as a waiter appeared by their side and asked if they would like to order. Great timing, thought Maisie, but at least it gave her a little time to think, and not about what she wanted to eat. Once they'd ordered and the waiter had left them, Mike tried again.

'I've been assigned to a desk job in Washington.'

Maisie leaned across the table and took his hand.

'I pressed them to let me stay for another six months . . . so I could be with you, but they turned my request down.'

'I'm sorry to hear that,' said Maisie, 'but - '

'Please don't say anything, Maisie, because I'm finding this difficult enough already. Though God knows I've given it enough thought.' This was followed by another long silence. 'I realize we've only known each other for a short time, but my feelings haven't changed since the first day I set eyes on you.' Maisie smiled. 'And I wondered,' he continued, 'hoped, prayed, that you might consider coming back to America with me . . . as my wife.'

Maisie was speechless. 'I'm so very flattered,' she eventually managed, but couldn't think of anything else to say.

'Of course, I realize you'll need time to think it over. I'm sorry that the ravages of war don't allow for the niceties of a long courtship.'

'When do you go home?'

'At the end of the month. So if you did say yes, we could get married at the base and fly back together as man and wife.' He leant forward and took her hand. 'I've never felt more certain about anything in my whole life,' he said as the waiter reappeared by their side.

'So which one of you is the chopped liver?'

The Sins of the Father

Maisie didn't sleep that night, and when she came down to breakfast the following morning, she told her mother that Mike had proposed to her.

'Jump at it,' was Mrs Tancock's immediate response. 'You'll never get a better chance to begin a new life. And, let's face it,' she added, glancing sadly at the photograph of Harry on the mantelpiece, 'there's no longer any reason for you to stay here.'

Maisie was about to express her one reservation when Stan burst into the room. She got up from the table. 'I'd better get a move on if I'm not going to be late for work.'

'Don't think I've forgotten about that 'undred quid you owe me!' he shouted as she left the room.

The Sins of the Father

Maisie was sitting on the edge of her seat in the front row when Mr Holcombe entered the classroom at seven that evening.

Her hand shot up several times during the next hour, like a tiresome schoolgirl who knows all the answers and wants teacher to notice her. If he did, he didn't let on.

'Could you start coming in on Tuesdays and Thursdays in future, Maisie?' Mr Holcombe asked as they strolled across to the pub with the rest of the class.

'Why?' asked Maisie. 'Aren't I good enough?'

'Am I not good enough,' corrected the schoolmaster without thinking. 'On the contrary,' he added, 'I've decided to put you into the intermediate class, before this lot,' he said, indicating her fellow classmates with the sweep of an arm, 'become overwhelmed.'

'But won't I be out of my depth, Arnold?'