intended to practise in England after the war, ‘away from all these neurotics and this hustling scene of anxiety’.
‘Christianity is all in the country parishes these days,’ said this shepherd of the best prime mutton. He put down his glass as if to seal his decision on the matter, his grief for the loss of Joanna turning back, at every sequence, on her departure from the rectory.
He said, ‘I must go and see the spot where she died.’
Nicholas had already promised to take him to the demolished house in Kensington Road. The father had reminded Nicholas of this several times as if afraid he might inattentively leave London with this duty unfulfilled.
‘I’ll walk along with you.’
‘Well, if it’s not out of your way I’ll be much obliged. What do you make of this new bomb? Do you think it’s only propaganda stuff?’
‘I don’t know, sir,’ said Nicholas.
‘It leaves one breathless with horror. They’ll have to make an armistice if it’s true.’ He looked around him as they walked towards Kensington. ‘These bomb-sites look tragic. I never come up if I can help it, you know.’
Nicholas said, presently, ‘Have you seen any of the girls who were trapped in the house with Joanna, or any of the other members of the club?’
The rector said, ‘Yes, quite a few. Lady Julia. was kind enough to have a few to tea to meet me yesterday afternoon, Of course, those poor girls have been through an ordeal, even the onlookers among them. Lady Julia suggested we didn’t discuss the actual incident. You know, I think that was wise.’
‘Yes. Do you recall the girls’ names at all?’
There was Lady Julia’s niece, Dorothy, and a Miss Baberton who escaped, I believe, through a window. Several others.’
‘A Miss Redwood? Selina Redwood?’
‘Well, you know, I’m rather bad at names.’
‘A very tall, very slender girl, very beautiful. I want to find her. Dark hair.’
‘They were all charming, my dear boy. All young people are charming. Joanna was, to me, the most charming of all, but there I’m partial.’
‘She was charming,’ said Nicholas, and held his peace.
But the man had sensed his pursuit with the ease of the pastoral expert on home ground, and he inquired solicitously, ‘Has this young girl disappeared?’
‘Well, I haven’t been able to trace her. I’ve been trying for the past nine days.’
‘How odd. She couldn’t have lost her memory, I suppose? Wandering the streets …?‘
‘I think she would have been found in that case. She’s very conspicuous.’
‘What does her family report?’
‘Her family are in Canada.’
‘Perhaps she’s gone away to forget. It would be understandable. Was she one of the girls who were trapped?’
‘Yes. She got out through a window.’
‘Well, I don’t think she was at Lady Julia’s from your description. You could telephone and ask.’
‘I have telephoned, in fact. She hasn’t heard anything of Selina and neither have any of the other girls. But I was hoping they might be mistaken. You know how it is.’
‘Selina …‘ said the rector.
‘Yes, that’s her name.’
‘Just a moment. There was a mention of a Selina. One of the girls, a fair girl, very young, was complaining that Selina had gone off with her only ball dress. Would that be the girl?’
‘That’s the girl.’
‘Not very nice of her to pinch another girl’s dress, especially when they’ve all lost their wardrobes in the fire.’
‘It was a Schiaparelli dress.’
The rector did not intrude on this enigma. They came to the site of the May of Teck Club. It looked now like one of the familiar ruins of the neighbour-hood, as if it had been shattered years ago by a bomb-attack, or months ago by a guided missile. The paving stones of the porch lay crookedly leading nowhere. The pillars lay like Roman remains. A side wall at the back of the house stood raggedly at half its former height. Greggie’s garden was a heap of masonry with a few flowers and rare plants sprouting from it. The pink and white tiles of the hall lay in various aspects of long neglect, and from a lower part of the ragged side wall a piece of brown drawing-room wall-paper furled more raggedly.
Joanna’s father stood holding his wide black hat.
At the top of the house the apples are laid in rows,
The rector said to Nicholas. ‘There’s really nothing to see.’
‘Like my tape-recording,’ said Nicholas.
