Easterleigh Hall at War by Margaret Graham Read Free Book Online

Veronica on a train this end, in spite of her protests. You know, old lad, I thought she might not come and I wouldn’t be able to say goodbye. I loved her but knew she didn’t love me. Your stepmama and my mama are a formidable force, you know, and pushed the poor girl into the marriage.’
    Auberon nodded, feeling uncomfortable. One didn’t usually share such things. It was women’s talk, but the wounded were different. He had heard this from Richard before, several times, but the wounded man’s memory was strange and he repeated himself. Dr Nicholls said it would perhaps improve and then had shouted, removing his pipe to do so, ‘If you’d had a mighty crack on your thick head, wouldn’t you be a bit knocked sideways?’
    Auberon had replied, ‘Probably. By the way, it’s one rule for the men – no smoking – and one for you, is it?’
    Nicholls had grunted, ‘Pipes are different and enough of your impertinence.’ He had charged on his way to the next crisis.
    Richard was muttering again, waving his cigarette in the air. ‘I believe Ver has a cause, you know, with the hospital, and I think that it makes her happy. All I have to do, it seems, is to step to one side and let her work, and her love will continue to grow. Or so Evie said. I think I should get a cauldron for all three of them, but especially . . .’
    Auberon reached for the ashtray on the bedside table and held it beneath the growing ash on Richard’s cigarette, and then his own. Both of them tapped, the ash fell. ‘Evie,’ Auberon finished for him. ‘Yes, a cauldron might be good, but nothing bad would be created, just some of her special magic.’
    Both men laughed.
    Auberon stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray he had laid down on the sheets, and dug into his pocket. ‘I have this letter. I need you to keep it for me, safely. If I don’t return, I need you to pass it to Ver for me. Make her use it. You’ll need additional information, from Father’s deposit box in a bank in Rotterdam. You won’t understand at the moment, but I repeat, make her use it, and help her to do so. Now where can I put it that you’ll remember, but where it isn’t obvious?’
    Richard pointed towards his portmanteau, his cigarette almost finished. ‘There’s an inside pocket. It contains my will. Put it there, then it will be found if either of us pops our clogs, old lad. Now, have I told you that we have bought you boots with a heel that contains a compass? Did I? I know I forget. Your batman has packed them but you must wear them in action.’
    â€˜Yes, you have told me, but it’s unlikely I’ll need it. Not done to be caught by the Hun, better to die.’
    Richard’s ash fell on to his pristine sheets. ‘Sister Newsome will murder me, that she will. Calls it a fire hazard to be smoking in bed. Don’t be bloody silly, don’t die, think of Veronica. If there’s nothing else for it, you must stick your bloody hands up and surrender, others do. Yes, you’ll have to fill a bloody form in on your return giving a damn good reason but sometimes there’s no alternative, or so my general said, so hands up, live. Then use the compass to get yourself back to the lines, pretty damn quick. They should insist we all carry one. Well, now you do. Now, have I told you how I thought Ver might not come to fetch me?’ Auberon smothered his sigh and lit them another cigarette. If he stayed much longer he’d
ask
for a bullet in the brain. ‘No, what was that then, Richard?’
    Auberon had half an hour before Ted and his taxi arrived. He had promised himself tea and fancies in the kitchen, just as he and Veronica had done before the war. They’d probably be in Evie’s way but if they were, she’d tell them. The very thought amused him.
    He headed through the green baize door and along the internal