was injured at Dunkirk.”
“Oh, poor boy,” Miss Laburnum said, instantly sympathetic. “There’s no vacancy at Mrs. Rickett’s at present, but I believe Miss Harding has one. She’s in Box Lane.”
Which wasn’t on Mr. Dunworthy’s forbidden list. Perfect. Now if she could just get over to Box Lane and put a deposit on the room.
“And you’d best look for a room for your cousin,” Mr. Dorming growled on his way out. “She’s already been bombed out. You don’t want to put her through Mrs. Rickett’s cooking as well, do you?”
He went out. Polly thanked Miss Laburnum and started after him, but Sir Godfrey stopped her. “Viola, what is it? What’s really happened?”
“I told you,” she said, not meeting his eyes. “My cousin-”
“Viola could not speak either, to tell Orsino of her sorrow or the brother she had lost,” he said. “But silence has its dangers as well. Whatever is troubling you, you can tell-”
“Sir Godfrey, I’m so sorry to interrupt,” Miss Laburnum said, “but I must speak to you. It’s about shoes.”
“Shoes?”
“Yes, in the third act, on the island after the shipwreck, everyone’s supposed to go unshod, but the station floor’s so unsanitary, so I was thinking perhaps beach sandals-”
“My dear Miss Laburnum,” Sir Godfrey said, “at this point we will not ever reach the third act. Lord Loam is incapable of remembering his lines. Lady Catherine and Tweeny are incapable of remembering their blocking. Lady Mary,” he said, looking at Polly, “persists in nearly getting herself blown up, and the Germans may invade at any moment. We have far more pressing problems at hand than footwear.”
You’re right, we do, Polly thought. Not knowing what airfield Gerald is at, and not having coats or jobs or roofs over our heads. And trying to keep from being arrested as German spies. Or killed by shrapnel or stray parachute mines.
“Oh, but Sir Godfrey,” Miss Laburnum protested, “if we don’t do it now-”
“If and when we reach a point where it becomes necessary to decide whether going unshod is a threat to our health, we will discuss it. Until then, I’d suggest you concentrate on persuading Lady Catherine not to titter each time she says a line. There is no point in fretting over things which may never come to pass. ‘Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof,’ my dear Miss Laburnum.”
And there’s my answer, Polly thought gratefully. Mike and Eileen have more than enough to deal with without my adding to it. We need to concentrate on getting Eileen out of Stepney and Mike out of Fleet Street and both of them into warm coats. And on finding Gerald Phipps. If we do, and his drop is working, I won’t have to tell them at all.
“‘Sufficient unto the day,’” Miss Laburnum was saying. “Is that from Hamlet?”
“It is from the Bible!” Sir Godfrey roared.
“Oh, of course. And it’s excellent advice, but with winter nearly here and so many shortages, beach sandals may prove difficult to find, and if we don’t purchase them now-”
“I don’t mean to interrupt, Sir Godfrey,” Polly said, taking pity on him, “but I must ask Miss Laburnum something.”
“Pray do, Viola,” he said with a grateful look at her. “‘Mark what I spake to thee,’” and fled.
“Do you have the address of Mrs. Wyvern’s assistance center?” Polly asked. “I must speak with her about getting coats for my cousin and Mr. Davis.”
“Coats?”
“Yes, they lost theirs in the bombing.” She hoped Miss Laburnum wouldn’t ask her which one. “I thought Mrs. Wyvern might be able to help.”
“Oh, I’m certain she will. What sizes?”
“My cousin’s my size, though a bit shorter. When I gave her my coat, it was too long. I’m not certain about Mr. Davis-”
“Gave her your coat? But what are you doing for one?”
“I’ll be all right. Townsend Brothers is only a short way from Oxford Circus-”
“Oh, but it’s dreadfully cold out. You’ll catch your death. You must take mine.” She began unbuttoning it. “I have an old brown tweed at home I can wear.”
“But what about you? It’s a long walk to Mrs. Rickett’s. I hate to take-”
“Nonsense,” she said briskly. “It’s our duty to help each other, especially in time of war. As Shakespeare says, ‘No man is an island.’”
And thank goodness Sir Godfrey wasn’t here to hear that.
“‘Each is a piece of the whole, a part of the main,’” Miss Laburnum said, handing Polly the coat. “Now is there anything else you need?”
The name of the airfield Gerald’s at, Polly thought, and looked around for Lila and Viv, but they’d left.
She glanced at her watch. She couldn’t afford to go after them. It was nearly nine, and she couldn’t risk losing her job by being late. Room and board and train fares to airfields would all take money. But asking Mrs. Rickett about Eileen’s sharing her room couldn’t wait till after work. “There is something you could do for me, if you would,” Polly said. “If you could tell Mrs. Rickett what happened and-”
“Ask her if your cousin can stay with you? Of course. You go on to work, my dear. I’ll take care of everything.”
“Thank you,” Polly said gratefully, and raced off, arriving at Townsend Brothers with seconds to spare. “Where did you go off to last night?” Doreen asked as she uncovered her counter. “Marjorie wanted to speak to you.”
“I had an appointment,” she said, and, to avoid questions-Which is all I seem to do, she thought-she asked, “Did Marjorie tell you what she was doing on Jermyn Street the night she was injured?”
“No, Miss Snelgrove wouldn’t let us ask her anything. She said she was too ill to have us yammering at her. She insisted on escorting her back to the hospital herself. What sort of appointment? With a man? Who is he?”
Luckily, Sarah arrived just then, full of the news of Padgett’s, and Polly didn’t have to answer her. On the other hand, she couldn’t bring the conversation round to airfields either. She had to wait till the opening bell had rung and Doreen came past with a stack of lingerie boxes on her way to the workroom. When she did, Polly said, “I met an airman in the shelter night before last, and we rather hit it off.”
“I knew it. Appointment, my eye.” Doreen set the boxes down and leaned her elbows on the counter. “I want to hear all about him. Is he good-looking?”
“Yes, but there’s not much to tell. His leave was up, and he was on his way back to his airfield. We were only able to talk for a few moments, but he asked me to write him, only I can’t remember which airfield he was stationed at. It began with a D, I think, or a T.”
“Tempsford?” Doreen said. “Debden?”
“I’m not certain,” Polly said. “The name might have had two words.”
“Two words?” Doreen said thoughtfully. “High Wycombe? No, that doesn’t begin with a T or a D. Oh, look out, here comes Miss Snelgrove.” She scooped up her boxes and scurried into the stockroom.
Polly tore off a scrap of brown wrapping paper, jotted the names down so she wouldn’t forget them, and stuck the list in her pocket. With any luck, she’d be able to get others from the shopgirls at lunch, and one of them would ring a bell with Eileen. She and Mike should be here soon. Stepney was less than three-quarters of an hour away, and she doubted if Eileen had much to pack.
But they still weren’t there by eleven, and Polly realized belatedly that she didn’t know Mike’s address or the name of the people Eileen was staying with. And Padgett’s employee records had just been blown to bits. Where are they? she thought. It shouldn’t take four hours to go to Stepney and back.
She watched the clock and the stairways and the lifts, trying not to worry, trying to believe they would walk in any moment, safe and sound, that they were going to find Gerald Phipps, and his drop was going to open and they would go back to Oxford where Mr. Dunworthy would let Eileen go to VE-Day. To believe their retrieval teams were going to walk in any moment and say, “Where have you been? We’ve been looking everywhere for you!”
But as the minutes crept by, and Mike and Eileen still didn’t come, doubts began to drift back in like the fog that first night she’d come through. Even if the measles epidemic had been a divergence point and kept the retrieval team from coming for Eileen till after she’d left for London, Lieutenant Heffernan would have said they’d been there. And if the measles had been a divergence point, why had Eileen been allowed to come through in the first place?
