Page 55 of An Invitation to the Kennedys
‘My wife won’t play,’ Duff said with a quick grin at Honor.‘She thinks her energies are better spent elsewhere.’
‘She won’t play because she knows she won’t win,’ Brigid said tartly.Then, catching Honor’s eye, ‘I say, sorry!In any case, there are no more men to partner with.’
‘My man would play, if needed,’ Fritzi said.‘Albert.He is a stronger player than I am.’
‘I don’t see Maureen playing with a servant,’ Brigid blurted out.
‘He isn’t exactly a servant, more a companion.My grandfather—’
‘The kaiser,’ Chips said enthusiastically.
‘The kaiser,’ Fritzi agreed.‘He didn’t want me to come to England entirely alone.Albert’s family have been with my family for a jolly long time.And so Albert came with me and has been companion, friend, sometimes valet, but mostly a chum.’
Idly, Honor wondered where exactly he had learned his English.It was faultless, but his expressions were wrong.Too schoolboyish.
Kick giggled again and Honor gave her and Brigid a look.Perhaps this wasn’t such a good friendship after all.Rose may have been thinking the same, because she said, ‘Kathleen, if you are done with breakfast, perhaps you would take a little walk with me.Prince Friedrich, would you join us?’
The prince stood immediately, while Kick blurted out, ‘Must I?’Then, seeing her mother’s face, ‘Of course!’
Once they were gone, Brigid said she would speak to the gardener to make sure the court was properly marked, and left.Honor felt a moment’s irritation at the easy way she assumed the right to take control, then realised that her irritation was more than balanced out by relief that she didn’t have to go herself.It was hotter than the days before, with an angry kind of heat that felt ready to boil over.
‘Will you play?’Chips asked her.
‘Not in this weather.I wish it would thunder.It’s been threatening it for days.’
‘We could wait ’til later, when it’s cooler,’ he said eagerly.‘If you would like?’
‘Don’t bother.’Why, she wondered, was he making such an effort?She refilled her tea cup and sat again by the window, enjoying the sounds of the day outside whispering to itself about everything that must be and must be done.It was like a hostess, she thought, making plans for the smooth running of a visit.Birds chirped and called, branches rustled lightly, leaves shook themselves and spread out further into the warm air, plants swayed and scraped against their neighbours and, at the far end, the sound of the river moving lazily along.She could see Rose Kennedy, Kick, Fritzi, walking slowly, stopping to admire a flower here, a bush there.
‘Hmph.’Chips, at her shoulder now, was watching them too.‘Whatdoesshe mean?’he said quietly.
‘What does who mean?’
‘Sshhh.’He twitched his head irritably, back towards the dining room where Duff and the ambassador were now sitting side by side, withThe Timesspread open in front of them.Honor could make out the headline:Hitler Calls Up 750,000 Germans for Military Exercises.She had a vision of all those men, dressed in their tight-fitting uniforms as she had seen them on their visit to Germany two years before, doing star jumps.
‘I wonder what her plans are, that’s all,’ he murmured, looking back towards the gardens.
‘Must everyone have plans?’
‘Of course they must.’He sounded honestly astonished.‘Really, Honor.What do you think about all day?’
She considered her responses:How to live my life contained in such a way that the sides of it touch yours only as much as is absolutely necessary?And even then, how to prevent my flesh from shrinking from that touch?‘Right now, I am thinking about how to get Elizabeth up so the maids can do her room.’
That, he understood.‘You should have seen the amount of gin she put away,’ he said with gleeful maliciousness.‘Duff too.Egged on by her.’Honor looked over at Duff again.He looked, as ever, dark, handsome, rather forbidding, but his eyes were bloodshot and there was a slump to his shoulders.
She went to Maureen’s room first, tapping on the door then going in when she heard her voice: ‘Come.’
The curtains had been opened and Maureen was sitting up in bed wearing a coffee-coloured silk peignoir.Her hair had been brushed and fell about her shoulders in shining golden curls.Beside her on the table was an array of pots and jars.Some were open and Honor could smell rose oil and beeswax.
‘I thought you were Duff,’ Maureen said crossly.
‘He’s downstairs, with the ambassador.Have you breakfasted?’
‘Yes.And yes I will get up, you needn’t badger me.’
‘I’m not.I only wanted to see how you were.’
‘You slipped off pretty smartly last night, didn’t you?’
