‘We took it so that you wouldn’t have to spend the night in the cells,’ said Freddie.
‘And the rest of the week in jail, remember?’ Pearl chipped in.
Agatha suddenly looked deflated.
‘There wasn’t enough, so Freddie went to the shops for the rest,’ said Pearl, her voice softening. ‘He wrote cheques and the shopkeepers gave him the money from their tills.’
‘After taking a commission,’ Freddie mumbled.
Agatha seemed puzzled. ‘But I don’t understand. If you used my money to contribute to the fine, why is it now all back in here?’
‘By the time I got back, the fine had already been paid,’ said Freddie.
Agatha lowered herself onto a chair. ‘So if you didn’t pay the fine, then who did?’
‘That’s just it, Mummy. We don’t know.’
The newsreels at the pictures at the end of September 1938 were dominated by the prime minister and the speech he had broadcast from Downing Street. The Munich Agreement – which had been signed by Adolf Hitler himself – made it clear that all future disputes between Britain and Germany would be settled by peaceful means. For weeks the whole country had held its breath as German expansionist policies grew ever more threatening. People were divided in their opinions. On the one hand, there were those who wanted peace at any price, while others felt that if Hitler decided to annex the Sudetenland, it would be nothing short of the thin end of the wedge.
After hearing the prime minister’s promise that Britain and Germany would never go to war again, Milly and Lena watched with mixed feelings as Neville Chamberlain stood waving on the balcony of Buckingham Palace with King George VI and Queen Elizabeth beside him. Although the crowds below were happy and cheerful, somehow it didn’t feel like the end of the matter.
Even in sleepy old Worthing there was a lot of preparation going on. The bomb shelters in Steyne Gardens were finished and Worthing museum was relocating many of the town’s artefacts. Principle Salt from the art school had asked Milly if she would accompany Miss Gerard from the library while she hid a couple of the school’s most valuable pictures. The hiding place turned out to be on the Gallops where a tunnel had been created in the rock face on the hill. They had carefully stored several items belonging to the art school along with the cases already there and Milly had taken a picture of Miss Gerard outside the entrance before the workmen sealed it up. That photograph would be locked in the library vault for future reference in case something happened to them.
As she’d turned to leave, Milly had spotted her brother-in-law striding along the Gallops. She was puzzled as to why he was there, but she’d said nothing. He was a fit man and used to bicycling or walking across the Downs so perhaps it was just a coincidence.
Now, when the advertisements came on, Milly was wondering what would become of them all. She’d heard the stories of the privations and hardships of the last war. So many men had been called up that the women had had to step up to keep the country running. They’d become railway porters and delivery drivers. They’d gone to France to nurse the wounded. Would it come to the same thing if war came again? Supposing some of her friends got killed? She closed her eyes and forced herself to think of something else, but now her mind was in overdrive. Where would she go? Would she and Lena be able to do something together? And if they did, who would look out for her mother? Despite their difficult relationship, she still cared about her.
Milly leaned back in her seat. It had felt so good when she’d paid her mother’s fine before Pearl and Freddie got back to the courtroom. One little thing she’d done to show there were no hard feelings on her part. Of course, it would have been nice to tell her mother and have her say thank you for all that she’d done, but something told her that – even if Agatha knew – a grateful response from her would be highly unlikely.
The film they had chosen to watch didn’t lighten their mood. The Lady Vanishes, starring Margaret Lockwood and Michael Redgrave, was set on a train journeying through the continent. It was a thriller about a rich girl who realises an elderly woman is missing from the train. This story of spies, false imprisonment and secret codes only heightened their nervousness about the world around them.
After the film, they stopped for a cup of tea in the café next door to the cinema before making their separate ways home.
‘I haven’t told you,’ Milly began, ‘but I have a date.’
Lena’s eyes grew wide. ‘A date? With who? Do I know him?’
Milly shook her head. ‘We met last year, before Pearl got married.’ She went on to tell Lena about Lady Verity’s party and meeting Eustace in the garden, and that he happened to be in the Swan hotel for an auction at the same time Milly had been there.
‘Eustace . . .’ Lena said cautiously.
‘I know, I know,’ said Milly. ‘The poor man told me his friends call him Useless Eustace. I think there should be a law against parents calling their children dreadful names.’
Lena laughed. ‘So what’s he like?’
‘To be honest,’ Milly confessed, ‘I hardly remembered him. But he seems very nice, kind, considerate, friendly.’ She held back from telling her sister that she was only really going because she now knew there was no chance with Seebold.
‘You’ve made him sound like Prince Charming himself,’ Lena giggled. ‘When do you meet him?’
‘Next Wednesday,’ said Milly.
‘Well, have a wonderful time,’ said Lena. ‘And let me know how you get on.’
‘I will,’ she promised.
They lapsed into talking about Lena’s plans for the future. She was still at the Wonderland but – with winter coming on – she needed to think of something else. Nobody would be wanting Shetland pony rides in December.
‘Will you go back to Rainbow George?’ Milly asked.
Lena shook her head. ‘I don’t know what to do. I always feel caught up between two different worlds, you see. I love the fairgrounds and entertaining people, but with no real specialist talent, it’s hard.’
‘You still have the cottage,’ Milly reminded her.
‘I was thinking of moving my caravan from East Worthing down there,’ said Lena. ‘Do you think they would mind?’
‘It’s your property,’ Milly said stoutly. ‘I think it sounds like a good idea. You’d be closer to Nan as well.’
‘You see, I’ve been offered a place for the ponies at a stable on the Horsham Road,’ Lena went on. ‘It’s only a stone’s throw from the cottage and, actually, if I lived in the cottage, I could become a pigeoneer.’
Milly’s eyebrows shot up. ‘What on earth is that?’
‘Someone who trains homing pigeons,’ said Lena. ‘You know, looks after them, houses them, feeds them, makes sure they’re fit and healthy, then sends them away and waits for them to come back home.’
Milly frowned. ‘As a sort of hobby, do you mean?’
‘Yes and no,’ said Lena. ‘People do race them against one another but if we do go to war, carrier pigeons could be very useful. They used them quite a lot in the Great War – you know, sending messages from the front and all that. I thought that if I was accepted by the War Office, or whoever decides these things, it would be my way of doing my bit.’
‘Then go for it,’ Milly said stoutly.
