Page 356 of Edge of Eternity (The Century 3)

Dave pulled out a kitchen chair and Fitz sat at the table. "I'm going to her funeral," he said. "It's in two days' time."

Lloyd said: "She was living in East Germany, wasn't she? How did you hear that she had died?"

"Maud has a daughter, Carla. She telephoned the British embassy in East Berlin. They were so kind as to phone me and give me the news. I was a minister in the Foreign Office until 1945, and that still counts for something, I'm glad to say."

Without being asked, Daisy took a bottle of Scotch from a cupboard, poured an inch into a glass, and put it in front of Fitz with a small jug of tap water. Fitz poured a little water into the whisky and took a sip. "How kind of you to remember, Daisy," he said. Dave recalled that Daisy had lived with Fitz for a while, when she was married to his son, Boy Fitzherbert. That was why she knew how he liked his whisky.

Lloyd said: "Lady Maud was my late mother's best friend." He sounded a little less uptight. "I last saw her when Mam took me to Berlin in 1933. At that time Maud was a journalist, writing articles that annoyed Hitler."

Fitz said: "I haven't seen my sister or spoken to her since 1919. I was angry with her for marrying without my permission, and marrying a German, too; and I stayed angry for almost fifty years." His discolored old face showed profound sadness. "Now it's too late for me to forgive her. What a fool I was." He looked directly at Lloyd. "A fool about that, and other things."

Lloyd gave a brief, silent nod of acknowledgment.

Dave caught his mother's eye. He felt that something important had just happened, and her expression confirmed it. Fitz's regret was so deep it could hardly be spoken, but he had come as near as he could to apologizing.

It was hard to imagine that this feeble old man had once been swept by tidal waves of passion. But Fitz had loved Ethel, and Dave knew that Ethel had felt the same, for he had heard her say it. Fitz had rejected their child and now, after a lifetime of denial, he was looking back and comprehending how much he had lost. It was unbearably sad.

"I'll go with you," Dave said impulsively.

"What?"

"To the funeral. I'll go to Berlin with you." Dave was not sure why he wanted to do this, except he sensed it might have a healing effect.

"You're very kind, young Dave," said Fitz.

Daisy said: "That would be a wonderful thing to do, Dave."

Dave glanced at his father, nervous that Lloyd would disapprove; but there were surprising tears in Lloyd's eyes.

Next day Dave and Fitz flew to Berlin. They stayed overnight at a hotel on the west side.

"Do you mind if I call you Fitz?" Dave said over dinner. "We always called Bernie Leckwith 'Grandpa,' even though we knew he was my father's stepfather. And as a child I never met you. So it feels, like, too late to change."

"I'm in no position to dictate to you," said Fitz. "And anyway, I really don't mind."

They talked about politics. "We Conservatives were right about Communism," said Fitz. "We said it wouldn't work, and it doesn't. But we were wrong about social democracy. When Ethel said we should give everyone free education and free health care and unemployment insurance, I told her she was living in a dream world. But now look: everything she campaigned for has come to pass, and yet England is still England."

Fitz had a charming ability to admit his mistakes, Dave thought. Clearly the earl had not always been this way: his quarrels with his family had lasted decades. Perhaps it was a quality that came with old age.

The following morning a black Mercedes with a driver, ordered by Dave's secretary, Jenny Pritchard, was waiting to take them across the border and into the East.

They drove to Checkpoint Charlie.

They went through a barrier and into a long shed where they had to hand over their passports. Then they were asked to wait.

The border guard who had taken their passports went away. After a while a tall, stooped man in a civilian suit ordered them to get out of their Mercedes and follow him.

The man strode ahead, then looked around, irritated at Fitz's slowness. "Please hurry," he said in English.

Dave remembered the German he had learned in school and improved in Hamburg. "My grandfather is old," he said indignantly.

Fitz spoke in a low voice. "Don't argue," he said to Dave. "This arrogant bastard is with the Stasi." Dave raised an eyebrow: he had not previously heard Fitz use bad language. "They're like the KGB, only not so softhearted," Fitz added.

They were taken to a bare office with a metal table and hard wooden chairs. They were not asked to sit, but Dave held a chair for Fitz, who sank into it gratefully.

The tall man spoke German to an interpreter, who smoked cigarettes as he translated the questions. "Why do you wish to enter East Germany?"

"To attend the funeral of a close relative at eleven this morning," Fitz answered. He looked at his wristwatch, a gold Omega. "It's ten now. I hope this won't take long."

---