Previous Section, Section XXII
Part 66
June 24th 1944 - Rosings, Kent
It's been lovely...but I have to S-C-R-E-A-M now.
Juliette reached Rosings with a scrunch of gravel and a very tired expression on her face. Annie-Bug came down the main stairs and strolled over to sit on the edge of the car.
"Charlotte Collins has been ringing after you all day." Annie-Bug frowned down at the car. "Where have you been all day?"
"London." Juliette got out of the car with some difficulty. "Mr Darcy seemed to think that my presence in town was of the utmost necessity...and unfortunately I'm in no position to argue such edicts on my time and leisure."
"Oh." Annie-Bug blinked and then goggled. "Who is that?"
"Whom is who?" Juliette looked more than a little confused as she paused in pulling bags out of the boot.
"Look by your left foot." Annie-Bug hesitated slightly before she spoke.
"Umm." Juliette glanced down and then grimaced. "That is Gaius Caligula and the latest objectionable...addition to my life. I am getting a headache and I'm going to go rest in my bedroom."
"What is that dog doing?"
"I couldn't say...apart from annoying me." Juliette cast a rather baleful glance at the dog. "I would not endeavour to embrace me unless you wish to endanger your health though."
"Why?"
"It's one of Mac's dogs and I've been reassured it is fully trained to protect me...which is a euphemism for it's an anti-social brute."
"Oh." Annie-Bug eyed the dog, considered what she knew of Mac's dogs. "When do you get rid of it?"
"I don't." Juliette glanced down at the dog again. "Apparently it is yet another...gift from Mr Darcy."
"You mean a gift like that evacuee he had forced on him at the beginning of the evacuations?"
"Precisely."
"What happened to it?"
"I have no idea." Juliette got the last bag out of the boot. "I sent her to Charlotte Collins and haven't seen her since.
"Couldn't you have said no?" Annie-Bug eyed the dog askance.
"Have you ever said no to Jim successfully?" Juliette's expression was rather bitter. "He didn't ask me to accept Gaius, I just acquired the...wretched animal. Apparently Gaius Caligula and Daoud do not get on well together."
"Well I am not ever going to live with another of Jim's monstrosities, regardless of who he does, or doesn't like. It was bad enough when it was Eoan!"
"Yes, well this one is likely to be even worse." Juliette stepped through the doorway and Annie-Bug skipped hastily backwards in response to a decidedly nasty look from Gaius Caligula.
"Well I'm going off to search for work then." Annie-Bug followed her sister at a discreet distance. "Will you give me a gardening reference?"
"No." Juliette glanced back over her shoulder with a wry grin. "I will however arrange for someone else to provide you with an assortment of references."
"Why won't you?"
"Are you daft Anneliese? I am your sister and the papers currently are of the view that I want nothing to do with you. No one is likely to believe a reference which comes from me about you."
"Oh." Annie-Bug scratched the side of her head. "How did it happen?"
"How did what happen?"
"This...this...the papers never seem to leave us alone, even when we're doing absolutely nothing. Most people merely get mentioned because they were seen here of there or had done whatever...but we've been mired down here for months and barely left the property and yet every other day there's some new...lie about us."
"Don't worry about it." Juliette pushed her hand through her hair. "There's a freelance writer who has a particular dislike for us, and though James might be able to silence the woman...well I can't and dignified indifference seems the best approach to date."
"Oh." Annie-Bug considered the matter. "If I leave will things become worse?"
"Not if you tell them the truth." Juliette suddenly gave a wide grin. "I can just see the headlines! Sister Leaves over Cousin's Dog."
"So can I." Annie-Bug grimaced. "Except he's not out cousin."
"True enough, but that will not disturb the papers."
"No, after all they're still fixated on the fact that you're after Jim's money...and you've barely exchanged a civil word with him in a decade now."
"That is incorrect, I was perfectly civil for the entirety of last year's Netherfield Benefit."
"That doesn't count. Neither does the muddle of months a couple of years ago when you decided it was a matter of family pride to make certain James did not develop an inclination for that...Lila was it?"
"Lila Thompson." Juliette sniffed. "And I was never even slightly concerned that he might develop...inclinations...or at least not for her." Juliette sniffed again. "I also resent the implication that I am only civil under duress. I was perfectly civil to him when he came down here over that row with what's-his-name."
"That was only because I was flicking breadcrumbs at you half the time. Admit it, Stelle, you haven't been voluntarily civil in years."
"He hasn't either!"
"Well..." Annie-Bug hesitated and then grimaced for Juliette had spoken nothing but the truth, James was never civil unless compelled by external pressure. "Do you think he'll acknowledge us at all now Grandmother is dead?"
"He must." Juliette spoke rather dryly. "I do have his dog after all."
"Oh." Annie-Bug closed her mouth and made a tired little noise. "I think I'll go visit Jeroen...let him know I'm coming if you can."
"Certainly." Juliette's brows hardly twitched at this news and she still hadn't moved when a distant door closed to signal Annie-Bug's departure. A car engine revved and finally Juliette stirred. "I think I will not be sleeping tonight." Gaius Caligula stared up at her with unblinking eyes and Juliette sighed again. Gaius Caligula was going to be a severe restriction on her social life. Juliette moved down the hall to the telephone, she was not even faintly in the mood to deal with the telephone at the present moment, but she was going to have to use it at some point so she might as well use it now.
"Fouchiard."
"I would have thought they might at least have reassured you that you were not up for a chat with the Air-Commodore." Juliette was more than a little relieved to have finally reached her target. "Your wife's on the way."
"I thought she was settled down there."
"She was...until about half an hour ago."
"What happened?" Jeroen sounded more than a trifle resigned. "Or perhaps I should ask whether I'll find it in tomorrow's newspaper."
"N-o, I don't think it's likely to show face in less than two to three days." Juliette hesitated for a moment. "Well, not unless really nothing is happening."
"What counts as nothing?"
"Umm...a situation where the fact that James has 'given' me a dog is the most interesting bit of news for the tabloids."
"Ah, now I understand why Annie-Bug is headed this way." Jeroen gave a snort. "Why doesn't she like his dogs?"
"More a question of why his dogs don't like her. Eoan was the only one who would even tolerate her...and if you hadn't realised, he only kind of does that."
"So why has Jim donated a dog to your cause?"
"He didn't actually explain...I'm assuming that it's belligerent behaviour makes it persona non grata at any other residence, particularly since it apparently requires a five mile run every day."
"Jim..." Jeroen gurgled to a halt.
"Precisely. Would you like a dog?"
"Not if it requires that much exercise."
"Pity." Juliette gave a tiny yawn. "Do enjoy tomorrow."
"What...?"
"That's when Anneliese is arriving isn't it?" The innocence in Juliette's voice was like a halo and it caused Jeroen to curse softly.
"Goodnight, Boots."
"Must you call me that abominable..." Juliette gave a faint squeak of frustration.
"Keeps you young and bad-tempered. Tell Jim I want his guts for garters if you ever see him again."
"Stand in line, I'm turning him into fish food long before you get at his internal organs." Juliette hung up the telephone with a bang and scowled darkly at the dim shadow of Gaius Caligula who was sitting almost on her feet. Just like James to 'give' her a 'present' who was highly annoying and would become even more annoying if not appropriately maintained. "Just what am I meant to do with you? You don't match any of the shoes in my wardrobe...with the exception of that perfectly ghastly pair of hiking boots I merely want reasons to throw away, not keep." Juliette glowered down at Gaius Caligula, who calmly grinned back and gently waved his tail. "Not only are you unwanted, you're also idiotic." Juliette was not in the mood for a dog who grinned cheerfully while practically sitting on her foot. "I'm going gardening." Juliette stalked upstairs, aware that she was in the wrong clothes for gardening. A brief altercation occured with Gaius Caligula when he decided that it was not part of his duty to remain outside while Juliette changed. Juliette was firmly of the other opinion, but conceded the point after Caligula practically smashed her door down. Successfully changed under Caligula's attentive eye, Juliette stalked downstairs to her telephone again and was relieved to get Mac after less than ten minutes.
"Have you any idea how moronic this dog is?"
"Which dog?" Mac had a very bad feeling as he heard Juliette's outraged tones over the telephone line.
"Gaius Caligula." Juliette spoke the name like a curse. "He was probably the most unstable of all the Roman Imperial Family and you had to name a dog after him? He's a menace!"
"Who is a menace?" Mac rubbed his forehead in a not very small degree of confusion. "The Emperor or the Dog."
"Gaius Caligula the dog, whom your wretched godson dumped on me."
"Jim...?" Mac was flabergasted. "I don't think anything can be done."
"I know nothing can be done...unless you want to sedate him with a tranquilizing dart at very long range and then blow his head off...which Mr Darcy will not thank me for. He's already driven Anneliese from the house and I'm expecting him to interfer with every aspect of my life until such time as Mr Darcy returns."
"Jim's gone?"
"I have no idea, but I do know that he's leaving else he wouldn't have foisted this obnoxious animal on me. If you see him before he departs will you kindly notify him that he will be homesick for the deepest levels of hell if he fails to return and relieve me of this animal."
"Need anything else?" Mac had thought for a long moment before finally choosing his response, he had a feeling this was little more than the sort of irritation Hope expressed after spending a week on some armload of calculations, only to find that the basic information supplied had been inaccurate.
"No thank you...though I might consult you later on how to maintain this animal's training."
"Certainly." Mac tilted his head slightly as an unusual thought ambled into his brain, and after a moment of consideration he decided not to vocalise the thought. "I'll pass on to Jim said curses should I see him, I'll mail you a training schedule for a dog of Caligula's charming temperament...and I believe Miss Bennet is inviting all and sundry to some...feast or other. I've no doubt you'll hear about it soon enough."
"Charming. My regards to Mrs McKenna and yourself, I hope the training is going well."
"Splendidly. Let me know how you manage with Caligula."
"I promise you I will." Juliette hung up on that rather dry note and headed out into the expansive, and now rather overgrown, gardens of Rosings Park. At best Juliette's activities against nature could be called sporadic, but as the war dragged on and her knowledge of plants grew, Juliette was to be found more and more often waging her own private war against the vicissitudes of mother nature. Late autumn and early winter were her favourite months now, for the weeds came out so much more easily. Tonight she was preparing to renew her war on the blackberries. She was in just the right degree of foul temper to endanger life and limb to those plants which were unquestionably possessed of Nazi souls inside each and every one of their vindictive thorns. By trial and error, Juliette had discovered that burning was the only way to prevent even the deadest looking twig from regrowing into a singularly hale and hearty patch of the nastiest thorns on the planet.
Juliette was dug well into one of the briar patches when Caligula began to growl. Juliette half turned her head to see some dim shadow standing about halfway across the garden.
"Who is it?"
"Mrs Collins."
"Right, I'll be out in a minute...but do stay where you are."
"Why?" Charlotte Collins had not so much as even twitched in the couple of minutes it took for Juliette to extract herself from the briars.
"Present from Mr Darcy." Juliette spoke rather grimly as she carefully eased bits of briar from her hair and clothing. "Gaius Caligula has to be the most anti-social brute he could find."
"Then why do you have him?"
"Have you ever successfully said no to him when he asks a 'favour'?"
"This is a favour?"
"Apparently...and oh, boy is he going to pay for this favour after the war."
"Is Alex able to come over?"
"I assume so since he said the brute is trained to protect...and I doubt that Alex counts as a risk."
"Good, because I have to go away for a couple of months."
"Trouble?"
"Of a kind, it's my sister...or her son to be precise. Matty's Hudson crashed after having an altercation with one of those fishing vessels the Germans put bloody big guns on. Why they shot at a Hudson I'll never know. Why the Hudson was that low I'll never know. Infact, I know absolutely nothing except that I have a crippled nephew whose mother is in no condition to care for and so I'm off to help."
"Then go...and don't worry about your garden."
"Thanks." Charlotte's expression was visibly grateful. "I'll be gone for months, so have no fear if you have a chance to rent the house out."
"I'll be renting it out to my sister if it's rented to anyone." Juliette was suddenly grim. "Unless I misunderstood my brother-in-law, he'll be joining the invasion before the end of summer, having shaken free of his desk-shaped shackles. Anneliese will need somewhere to live and I can promise you she has sworn not to enter a house where Gaius Caligula resides...and that mutt is not leaving my side any time soon if Mr Darcy is to be trusted." Juliette snorted. "He might at least have cursed me with a dog who would match my wardrobe of choice."
"Jim is usually reliable on such matters." Charlotte gave a tired smile and then looked down at the dog which sat calmly next to Juliette's left foot. Gaius Caligula was a decidedly regal animal in his own way, one got a feeling of timeless patience and a truly individual mind from that animal. Charlotte had a feeling that even if James Darcy did return, Juliette was going to have a faithful shadow who did not match her choice of wardrobe. Gaius Caligula had the air of a dog who was settled for life.
"When do you leave?"
"Tomorrow." Charlotte wrinkled her forehead. "Knowing Jim as I do...are you certain he didn't gift you with Caligula for a reason?"
"That would imply he has been very busy indeed recently." Juliette was looking rather grim. "He shouldn't yet be well enough to be that busy."
"Well, the Jim I know would never let something so pointless as poor health get in the way of work."
"Mm." Juliette's frown darkened and then she abruptly, and quite pointedly thrust all consideration of the matter from her mind. "Send a letter to Anneliese, tell her about Matty and ask her to be nice to your house if she gets some time away from Jeroen."
"I'll let someone know Alex is here...and that you've resumed your responsibility for the evacuee most grudgingly when faced with the necessity of my departure for family reasons."
"I'm amazed that I have any reputation left at all in these parts between my Grandmother and your own taste for delightful lies." Juliette had turned back to the briar and was kicking away at it. She really should have got it out several years ago.
"It was either lies or a scandal the likes of which has not been seen since your grandmother accused Jim of illegitimacy and his father returned from the dead. Oddly enough as I recall all parties elected against scandal and it was your choice that Alex came here."
"Fine." Juliette turned curtly aside. "I hadn't meant to insult you by that comment and I appologise. I'll be ready for Alex's arrival tomorrow morning and I hope all goes well at your sister's place."
"Thankyou." Charlotte smiled rather tiredly. "Good luck, I have a feeling you're going to need it."
"Send it Mr Darcy's way...he needs it more...particularly for what I'm planning when he finally takes this brute off my hands."
"You might grow attached to said brute."
"Pigs probably fly too." Juliette gave a brief snort. "I'll be seeing you and I'll even arrange for Miss Bingley to feed you as soon as I can afterwards."
"Such a kindly offer I cannot refuse...and now I must go or I will not get everything done that needs doing." Charlotte gave a quick wave and headed off back across the gardens while Juliette dug her way back in under the briars. Caligula had followed her and commenced digging vigorously around the roots of the briars Juliette was pulling on.
"What is it with Mac and the weirdest dogs in the Commonwealth." Juliette had rested back on her heels for a moment and couldn't help but shake her head over the grubbiness of Gaius Caligula, who was grinning even more widely than ever. This dog was even weirder than Brian O'Niell's Ronan, and Juliette had thought that dog strange.
June 30th 1944 - Apennines, Italy
If at first you don't succeed,
Swallow all evidence that you tried.
Annette had been studying the telegram for several minutes before she looked at her watch. The watch was not accurate, but Annette had long since developed a method of reading her watch such that she actually knew an accurate time from it. The telegram was simple, it mentioned a train and a time. The fact that there were few trains running at all, and none running at that time, would seem to be a complication, but Annette wasn't worried. Any telegram which came out of Berlin and had taken a week to reach its destination was of the variety which would explain itself if you attempted to follow its instructions the right way. The right way to follow this telegram had little to do with the time and nothing at all to do with a train service.
"Problem?" Rory had been drowsing in a nearby armchair of dubious comfort, and anything was preferable to counting the flies which buzzed around the ceiling.
"Telegram." Annette rose to her feet and reached for her hat.
"Anything I want to know about?"
"No." Annette gave a faint little smile as Rory groaned. "They'll hopefully just question you of my whereabouts and leave it at that."
"Oh, goody." Rory tried to settle a little deeper in his armchair, you never knew, it might get the springs out of his spine. "I do so love it when you get secret service-ish. Makes me feel that we live an important life in this war."
"I bet." Annette tugged on Rory's overlong hair as she crossed to the door. "Do persuade them to release my mail, Kitty promised me another book to read."
"Another book?" Rory sat up abruptly.
"Brand, spanking new, not a page read...and not even on the shop shelves yet." Annette gave an abrupt grin. "Someone connected to the lair has connections with William Collins and we have been officially volunteered to read a selection of their books."
"What do we do in exchange?" Rory looked abruptly suspicious.
"We do nothing...I write a short review." Annette shot through the doorway and slammed the door vigorously behind herself. Rory fumbled slothfully behind his head, but managed to retrieve the book his hand sought before sinking back into the depths of the chair once more. It was so fortunate that their last book from England had been a good one, Rory had read it at least fifty times since it had arrived...it would be nice to have a new book.
"Mmrph!" Rory surfaced from his slumbers and squinted at Mallern, who was looking more than a little flustered. "What is it? It had better be important...infact unless you're here to tell me that Hitler has surrendered I don't want to hear about it. If he has surrendered there's no point telling me." Rory closed his eyes again and endeavoured to go back to sleep
"It's SOE." Mallern had shaken Rory again. "They're not interested in what you want, they're interested in you."
"Oh." Rory rubbed his eyes and then scanned the room behind Mallern, he found the rather foggy forms of a handful of men. "SOE? They haven't bugged us since Cairo...what are we meant to have done?"
"I don't know." Mallern seemed to be becoming almost frantic. "They're...it's...oh, bother." Mallern dropped into a nearby chair with a curse. "Either wake-up or I'll throw a bucket of water on you."
"I am quite certain Annie hasn't left any buckets around." Rory reluctantly pushed himself up in the chair and squinted at the SOE officials. "If this is about the mail I'm intending to relieve the post office I don't want to hear about it. That mail is mine to retrieve...infact I'm ordered to retrieve it."
"It's about some telegram." Mallern was sounding exasperated now.
"Not mine."
"What do you mean it wasn't yours?"
"What I said. The telegram wasn't mine so they needn't have disturbed me." Rory squinted again. "Infact, it wasn't even vaguely addressed to me so I fail to see why they're here at all."
"It was addressed to your wife." Mallern shook his head and clearly indicated that the SOE could take over the interrogation.
"So what, Annie had a telegram...she gets them fairly frequently given the difficulties of communicating."
"Do you know what happened to this telegram?" It was the first time one of the SOE had spoken and Rory squinted at the man with an element of dislike.
"She pocketed it before she went out the door." Rory scratched his head. "Actually, she didn't pocket it." Rory scowled to see the men start looking around the room. "She didn't pocket it, but she did take it with her...in her hat I think."
"Why in her hat?" The man seemed confused.
"Why not in her hat?" Rory settled back. "Next you'll probably ask me what was in the tom-fool thing and all I can answer is that I don't know. Not in the habit of reading my wife's mail...particularly when I can't get a finger on it to read it by." Rory scrunched up his face slightly. "Not a bad idea that, reading by finger, I'll have to ask Annie when she gets back if it's possible."
"Is he insane?" The SOE men had turned away to talk to Mallern in less that subtle tones. Rory scowled at the backs of their heads for a moment and then fished around in the back of his collar. Annie had pulled his hair on her departure and Rory was suddenly suspicious of why. His collar produced a pencil stub, a very bad sketch of himself asleep in the armchair and the dried-up remains of a hair-ball from Diemos.
"No, he is merely mostly asleep." Mallern gave a slight shake of his head. "Give him a couple of minutes and he might wake up a bit more."
"Fat chance of that." Rory studied his new collection for a moment and then resumed fishing around his collar. A couple of bones were located next, along with a mouse which Rory released and then promptly recaught when he noticed Diemos' instant fascination with it.
"Believe me, you live with them for long and you get used to ignoring it." Mallern took the mouse and put it in his own pocket.
"Thankyou." Rory resumed fishing around in his collar and came to the conclusion that he'd got everything out.
"There's some paper behind your ear." Mallern handed the mouse back to Rory.
"Thanks." Rory fished the scrunchled bit of paper out from behind his ear, glanced at it and then shoved it back behind his ear. After a moment of thought he took the mouse back from Mallern and pushed it into his pocket. "Annie said goodbye before she left."
"Very kind of her I'm sure." Mallern took the scrunched bit of paper from behind Rory's ear, and straightened it before putting it in his own pocket. Paper was scarce and Mallern wasn't in the habit of wasting even the smallest fragment.
"I wouldn't do that." Rory crossed his eyes and shook his head. "It's that telegram they're after...could have sworn she put it in her hat."
"I put Felix in my hat." Annette had come back into the room at this moment.
"Felix?" Mallern was frowning.
"Felix." Annette pulled her hat off and pulled a small bird out of it. "Diemos has been chasing him all morning so I figured I'd take him along."
"You might have taken Mitch with you as well." Rory pulled the mouse out of his pocket and held it out.
"Mitch was perfectly happy in your collar."
"I wasn't perfectly happy about him being there though." Rory pushed the hair out of his eyes. "These people were interested in your telegram."
"That's because it indirectly came from Berlin."
"It came from Berlin by an indirect route...or Berlin was its last stop in an indirect journey?"
"Both." Annette pulled a book out from under her chair and headed back towards the door. "It came from Berlin, via England and I do not believe for a second that Berlin is where it began its journey...that is just where it was re-written for the telegraph system."
"Where did it come from?"
"I have no idea at all." Annette paused in putting her hat back on her head. "Possibly if I knew who had sent it I might guess...but I do not even have that information. Just an address and a few words. Train and time. However, there is no train...least of all at that time so I ignore it until I receive more information." Annette finished putting her hat on and had almost closed the door behind herself before the SOE officials realised what was happening. The hullaballoo that caused woke Rory up completely and he scowled darkly at the invasion of his rooms, Mallern usually knew better than to bother him when he was drowsing.
"She's only going to read at the hospital." Rory pushed to his feet and cracked his neck. "If you really think she'll be engaged in some illegal activity while reading..." Rory grabbed her hand and twisted it around so he could read the title of the book in it. "Lord, that again?"
"They like it." Annette snatched her hand back.
"I know, but it's got more cricket in it than...than..." Rory hesitated.
"Pickwick Papers." Annette sniffed. "I would probably be reading that if you hadn't thrown it out."
"I'd have preferred to have thrown Mike out."
"Mike belongs to neither of us to throw out, so that wasn't an option."
"You wouldn't have let me anyway."
"Of course I wouldn't. I wouldn't have let you throw out Pickwick Papers either...except you'd thrown that away before I knew you were going through my bag."
"I wasn't going through your bag. I told you we had to lose some weight and you gave me permission."
"I didn't think you were going to throw my books out."
"I only threw one out."
"It was a book."
"And I was carrying them!"
"I don't care, I thought you were going for clothes."
"Girls are meant to care about clothes."
"I don't." Annette gave a sniff. "Books are far more difficult to obtain than clothes."
"Oh, shut-up." Rory dropped back into his seat.
"Why should I?"
"Because I asked nicely."
"You didn't."
"If I tried?"
"You might try, but you never achieve." Annette gave a sniff.
"How do you know?"
"Because you..."
"WILL THE PAIR OF YOU PLEASE STOP BICKERING!" It was a howl from Mallern which stopped the debate dead in its tracks.
"Terribly sorry, Tom, didn't mean to disturb you."
"Definitely not, you just argue for the sake of arguing."
"You're a fine one to talk..."
"STOP IT!"
"Why?"
"You are giving me a headache."
"We always give you headaches."
"You're giving my headache a headache."
"That's just making excuses."
"If it's an excuse, it's a good one. Now either the pair of you shut-up, or leave."
"Fine." Rory grabbed Annette's arm and headed for the door. "Though I have no idea why you even pretended to give us a choice since you know perfectly well that we never do stop fighting."
"I suspect these gentlemen would not be happy if I simply kicked you out."
"Well they're quite welcome to join us as we hold our little fight on the way to the hospital...then they can stay and listen to Annie read from her very boring books, or choose to follow me as I..."
"My book is not boring."
"Is to."
"How do you know since you've never read it!"
"It's too thick, it has to be boring."
"It isn't half so..."
"OUT!" Mallern shoved them through the door and slammed it after them. Even the door wasn't thick enough to shut out the fight and it could be heard the whole way down the stairs and out onto the street.
"Are they always like that?" The SOE man was looking slightly shocked.
"No." Mallern grabbed a nearby sketchpad. "They're usually much worse...must have been behaving themselves because of visitors."
"That was behaving themselves?"
"Well, they didn't pull anyone else into the debate, they didn't draw up lines of battle across the room and all the furniture is still in place. Yes, they were behaving themselves remarkably well."
"Sir?" It was a rather hesitant interruption.
"What?"
"Ermm...well, we can't see them on the street and I don't think we know where they went."
"They went to the hospital." Mallern looked up with faint irritation from what he was working on.
"Which hospital?"
"What do you mean, which hospital?"
"Which hospital have they gone to?"
"How should I know...they probably aren't even going to a hospital since that's just them for going out."
"When will they be back?"
"No idea." Mallern returned to his sketch, then looked up in surprise as the SOE personnel departed.
"Did they find you?" Mallern glanced up curiously from his sketch pad when Annette and Rory let themselves back into the room.
"Who?" Annette had a thick pile of paper under one arm. "Mail for you, Tom."
"Who from?"
"Tiddles again, some institute of art or other, two from the papers and three from Baxter."
"What on earth can Baxter possibly want?" Mallern grabbed for his mail and tore into it, anything from the outside world was highly welcome...even the bill Rory had received in the previous mail collection.
"No idea." Annette handed the rest of the pile to Rory, with the exception of one firmly tied box.
"Note, she keeps the book for herself." Rory was ripping into the ten odd letters which had been handed to him.
"Of course, it's my book." Annette was busy reading the first page as she responded.
"Who might have found us?" Rory glanced up from a letter from Lucille.
"SOE ring any bells? The were in a fair flap when they realised that they'd lost you."
"How exciting." Rory returned his attention to the letter. "No they didn't find us. Annie you might be interested to know that Lucille and Co. are to be found these days at Pemberley, not Deraux Castle."
"Pemberley?" Annette looked up from the book in astonishment.
"Apparently Brian has been appointed Lord High Whatever...namely Steward."
"Oh, I am glad." Annette's attention returned to the book in her hands. "I'd been afraid that Jim would be sticky as hell about that when Luce wrote that they were hoping to get Pemberley."
"They moved there in late december and Lucille is already plotting to get permission to rebuild the house." Rory frowned. "Why would anyone want to rebuild one of those monsterou..."
"Shut up, Rory, I'm trying to read." Annette calmly interrupted what was promising to be one of Rory's more extensive capitalist rants.
"Why?"
"Because you've never seen Pemberley. Infact I doubt you've ever seen even so much as a picture of the place." Annette glanced up sharply. "Pemberley was one of the most beautiful pieces of architecture in northern England. There are no words to describe what that place was...but believe me, leaving it ruined is a crime. It's heritage...and it will cost a fortune the family can ill-afford to rebuild it."
"Then they shouldn't."
"You'll change your mind after you visit."
"I'm not..." Rory abruptly gulped and fell silent.
"Very wise." Annette buried her nose in her book again and Mallern finally turned back to his mail. Rory frowned for a moment and then returned to his mail, somehow he never could argue when Annette looked at him like that. It wasn't that she transmitted any particular emotion in the look, but somehow it stopped him in his tracks every time. It wasn't even that he was afraid to continue...or maybe it was, that expression tended to precede Annie's utter decimation of some verbal opponent, and Rory really felt no inclination to hand his head to Annie for the washing.
"What was everything about this morning?" Mallern had been thinking about the matter for several minutes before he finally voiced it.
"Nothing." Annette didn't even look up from her book.
"You deliberately lost the SOE on two separate occasions...even you don't do that for fun." Mallern was frowning rather darkly now.
"Sorry, this morning was meant to be about something." Annette laid her book aside with a frown. "To be perfectly frank I'm hoping that there was simply a change in plans...because otherwise something must have gone wrong."
"When will you know?"
"Couple of days, if things went wrong the Nazis will probably publish the matter far and wide with much fanfare."
"Ahh." Mallern went back to his mail.
"There is one other option." Rory was frowning too.
"What's that?" Annette looked more than a trifle doubtful.
"Things may have gone wrong and because of that the plan was re-written. The Nazis will publish nothing and no one would have come past."
"True." Annette gave a small shiver. "I hope it's not that though."
"Why?"
"Lila said I'd know the party...and most of the ones I know, and am known to know, are dead."
"What the hell would he be doing in Europe?"
"I don't know." Annette hesitated. "Do you think he would save himself if caught?"
"He has to, Annie, the scandal doesn't bear even imagining. There's also the slight matter of the reason why your throat got cut...if he's willing to let you risk death, then I'm quite certain he'd willingly hang himself for the same reason...infact I'm surprised he hasn't."
"He promised he wouldn't get himself killed...and not just to me."
"He's weird."
"Meaning you don't keep promises?"
"No, just that I don't go to insanely suicidal lengths in my efforts to keep promises." Rory gave a soft snort.
"True." Annette started to giggle, but it rapidly developed into a full laugh as Rory only responded with increasingly dirty looks. The rest of the evening passed quietly, until Mallern headed out to draw whatever took his fancy for the dark hours and Rory paused before following him.
"Annie?"
"Mm?" Annette looked up, slightly puzzled by the seriousness of Rory's tone.
"We'll find him after it's all over if need be...I don't believe he'll die for the war."
"Just a feeling?"
"Mm." Rory gave a brief nod, and then cursed as he realised that Mallern had already vanished down the street. "Unfortunately, that promise isn't much since I'm pretty certain we won't be needed."
"We may be needed to find out what happened...since Jim never tells anyone. Now scat and enjoy yourself."
"Sleep well, we shouldn't be too long." Rory gave a quiet smile as he hastened away into the shadows. Annette had given a quiet laugh for she knew that
Mallern never considered any length of time sufficient to spend on a drawing. If Mallern came back before dawn than Annette would be totally staggered, almost as staggered as she'd be if it turned out that today had not happened for a mundane reason. Nothing surrounding James Darcy was ever mundane, least of all a reason for failing to leave Germany on a pre-determined schedule.
To Be Continued . . .