Milly indicated the small wicker chair. Charles put the doll down and straightened her dress. ‘I’d forgotten how nice it is in here,’ he remarked.
‘I don’t think I want to play in the cottage any more,’ Milly said miserably.
‘Then perhaps you wouldn’t mind if someone else came here,’ her father said, lighting another cigarette. And in answer to her puzzled frown he added, ‘I should like to ask a friend of mine and her daughter to stay here for a while.’
‘What, live here?’
‘Yes,’ her father said, looking around one last time.
‘But it’s very small,’ Milly remarked. ‘And Mummy says it’s not the place to do any cooking.’
Her father laughed softly. ‘We’ll see about that,’ he said, as Milly squeezed her feet into her sandals.
He waited for her by the door and, as she came out into the cottage garden, he slipped his hand over hers. Milly looked up at him and smiled, then they both walked back to the house, her hand feeling warm and snug in his.
Chapter 3
The girls kept their distance from their parents as the bad atmosphere between Agatha and Charles deepened. That evening, Pearl and Milly were told to eat alone in the old nursery upstairs. ‘Your father and I need to discuss something,’ said Agatha.
‘You can still do that, Mummy,’ Pearl said. ‘We won’t listen to what you’re saying,’ but her mother was adamant that the discussion was private and not for young ears. Pearl made a fuss, reminding her mother that – at fourteen next birthday – she was almost an adult, but it was to no avail.
The girls were itching to know what was being said downstairs, and before long they could hear raised and angry voices. They crept along the landing and stood near the top of the stairs.
‘I don’t want to make a fight of it,’ they heard their father say, ‘but you can’t always be right, my dear.’
‘And you are, I suppose,’ Agatha retorted.
‘I didn’t say that either.’ Charles’s voice was measured, calm.
‘Look here, Charles, if we’re going to continue to move up in society, we need to do it properly,’ said Agatha. ‘We have to be one step ahead of the rest, so that by the time the girls have their coming-out parties, we shall be well established. They deserve nothing but the best.’
‘And the allowance I’ve given you will more than suffice. I don’t think it wise to go overboard with expenses. We have to be sensible.’
Their mother scoffed. ‘And this coming from the man who is investing all his money in factories making armaments.’
‘That has nothing to do with it.’
‘I still can’t believe what you’re doing,’ Agatha complained. ‘Have you really no idea how many pacifist movements there are in Worthing? There’s the Worthing Women’s Peace Crusade, the Worthing Labour Party, the youth groups . . . I myself have been asked to be on the committee of the Peace Council.’
‘I happen to agree with Winston,’ said Charles, ‘and Lord Winterton is of the same persuasion. The whole country is walking blindfolded over a cliff.’
‘We all want peace,’ said Agatha, her voice rising again. ‘Hitler wants peace. The whole bloody world wants peace. Everybody except you and Churchill!’
‘Hitler doesn’t want peace. He has a totally different agenda.’
There was an angry pause in their conversation. Pearl and Milly turned to tiptoe back to their bedroom when their father said, ‘And you’d better get used to the idea. I’m bringing her here.’
There followed a loud clatter, as if someone had thrown their cutlery onto an empty plate. ‘If she comes here, I’m leaving.’
‘That’s up to you my dear,’ said Charles, ‘but I can tell you now, I shall not change my mind.’
The girls eyed each other anxiously as they heard their mother shout, ‘Go to hell!’ The door flew open, and they only just had time to get back into the nursery before they heard her running up the stairs. A moment later, doors were being slammed and drawers were crashed shut in the master bedroom as Agatha screeched for Dixon.
Milly’s heart was thumping. This was bad. Really bad.
‘I hate Daddy,’ Pearl declared solemnly. ‘I’m never going to get married.’ By the time the maid came to collect their dirty dishes, she had draped herself over the settee complaining of the throbbing in her arm.
‘Tell my mother I need the doctor,’ she said plaintively, her eyes tearing up again.
But when Martha reappeared about ten minutes later, all she had was a couple of aspirins and a glass of water.
‘Where’s Mummy?’ Pearl asked.
‘She said to give you these,’ said Martha.
Pearl couldn’t hide her disappointment. ‘Didn’t you tell her I’m ill? I’m in a lot of pain.’
‘I told her,’ Martha insisted, ‘and she said you were to take these.’
Pearl scowled. ‘You stupid girl! Go and get her at once.’
Martha hovered, unsure of what to do.
‘Hurry up or I’ll box your ears.’
‘Pearl!’ Milly exclaimed.
Martha hurried from the room as Pearl shouted after her, ‘If you don’t bring her, I’ll make sure she gives you the sack.’
