Page 10 of Mrs. Endicott's Splendid Adventure
That evening Lionel came home with a worried frown on his face.
“Ellie, we must talk,” he said as she put a bowl of nuts beside the sherry.
“Michelle doesn’t want to marry you after all?”
He flushed. “No, nothing like that. She is really anxious to see the house, decide what changes she wants to make. And she won’t do that until you’ve gone.”
“At least she has some feelings of propriety,” Ellie said. “But don’t worry, I’m all ready to go. I’m just waiting for the nod from my travelling companion.”
“Your what?” His jaw dropped open.
“I’m travelling with a friend. So much nicer, don’t you think?”
“A female friend?”
Oh, how tempted she was to reveal that it was actually a Frenchman called Marcel. But she had never been a good liar. “Naturally. A woman of good character and impeccable background. Her father was a brigadier, Lionel. She was presented at court. You don’t have to worry.”
“I wasn’t worrying. Of course it’s splendid that you’re travelling with a friend. It’s the destination that worries me. Ellie, I don’t think you should be going to France at this moment.”
“Why on earth not?” Since he hadn’t poured himself a sherry, she poured her own and took a sip.
“You must know that the situation in Europe is not looking good, I’m afraid. That blighter Hitler has designs on conquest, you mark my words.”
“Yes, but surely his aim is to reclaim territories that used to be German—Poland and Czechoslovakia. Eastern Europe, not France.”
“That will be only the beginning, I’m afraid. He may well draw us into another war.”
Ellie looked up, horrified. “Surely not after the carnage of the last one. Neither side would think it was a good idea to go to war again.”
“You’d think not, wouldn’t you? But he’s not a rational being, if you want my opinion. He’s a new Napoleon. Highly dangerous. We’ve already got Franco and that idiot Mussolini. Hitler doesn’t want to be seen as less than them, I can assure you. He’s been busy amassing weapons, and any day now he’ll annex Czechoslovakia, then it will be Poland, then God help the rest of us.”
“You really think we could find ourselves in another Great War?”
“You’d hope not, wouldn’t you? But as I just said, Hitler is not rational, in my opinion. And he’s got the whole population brainwashed into thinking he’s some kind of god figure who is going to make the Aryans rule the world. An empire to last a thousand years—that’s what he’s saying.”
She felt a chill gnawing at her stomach but attempted to sound light. “Then England would be in as much danger as the South of France, I’d imagine.”
“We have the Channel as a barrier.”
“And they have aeroplanes. I don’t think the Channel is going to protect England any longer.”
Lionel slapped the arm of his chair. “I’m just thankful I’ll be too old this time. After what I went through in the last lot.”
“You were in the pay corps, Lionel. You didn’t see a trench for four years.”
He bristled at this. “I wasn’t that far from the front at times. I lost good friends. I got the war medal.”
Ellie tried not to smile. Everyone got the war medal, she wanted to say. Then the smile faded. “But the boys,” she said. “Richard’s already in the army. And Colin ... he’s safely far away right now, but.”
“But look how Japan is sabre-rattling and has similar imperial designs on the Far East. Look what they are already doing in China. Colin will not be safe in Hong Kong. Anyway, I expect his bank will send him home if there is a threat of war.” He paused, looking up at her now. “Our bank is already moving assets from vulnerable countries.”
“Gosh,” she said.
“I don’t want to alarm you too much, my dear,” he said, “but I do think you should reconsider your plan to travel. Go somewhere pleasant in England. Go to Devon or Cornwall.”
Ellie shook her head. “I’m not going to France permanently, Lionel. Just a long holiday probably, and I don’t think that Mr Hitler intends to start a war within the next couple of months.”
“Let us hope not,” he agreed. “At least Mr Chamberlain is all for appeasement. He’s heading there himself, but I just wanted to make you aware of the situation. We had a meeting today, and I can tell you that the bank’s president is taking this whole thing very seriously indeed.”
