That was all right then; except that I had known the postmistress as well. So had Glenn Miller; I mentioned her earlier but you didn’t notice. Barnes turned to get my bag and gave an unexpected little skip, like a child. I realized that he was drunk. As he walked away, he told me that Madam was in the Orangery.
I knew the way: ninety degrees banked turn to port from the square Jacobean hallway, and down a corridor a half-mile long. The last time I had met her in the huge, empty room, with its symphony of light, and floor-to-ceiling windows, she was pounding around it as if it was an indoor exercise track. She was still exercising, but this time on a great black high-stepping horse. They had spread sand on the floor to prevent it from slipping, which had been stupid because it made things worse. Black Beauty was making a fair old mess of the fine pine boards with its iron shoes. The noise was tremendous, and the beast skidded from time to time as I watched them. I wondered how long before they crashed out through one of the vast sheets of glass. When she tired she walked the steaming beast over to me. It shoved its face in mine and showed me its teeth. I showed it my teeth back, and pushed its head firmly away. The only animals I’ve ever been truly afraid of fly Messerschmitts.
Adelaide Baker held her hand down to shake mine. I said, ‘Men are bastards.’
‘We agree on something at last, Pilot Officer Bassett. How nice of you to come.’
‘I’m sure you say that to all the men.’
‘Only when I’m in the mood. I’m in the mood a lot less often than you’d think these days.’
‘Like Grace. She said something like that.’
‘You’ve come to find her for us?’
‘Actually I’m looking for her, for myself – if you see what Imean . . .’
‘Adelaide. You can call me Adelaide or Addy, now that you’ve been made an officer. How does that happen by the way? A solemn ceremony with an Archbishop and a sword, or something?’
‘Not quite. Another officer signs a piece of paper that says You are now an officer. Your pay goes up, and your brain boils away into space. Just like that.’
‘Grace told me that you said that all the time.’
‘What?’
‘Just like that!’
‘I suppose that I do, really.’
‘She liked it very much.’
‘Yes. I liked her too.’
She was off the horse by now, which wandered away to steam in another part of the room. Adelaide Baker and I looked at each other, neither breaking the silence. The horse broke the silence with a long and pungent piss. Addy said, ‘Balls. Who’s going to clear that up?’
‘Your Mr Barnes, I suppose. He seems to do almost everything else here.’
She scuffed at the scarred and sanded boards with the toe of an expensive riding boot.
‘I guess you’re right.’
I thought that she had been spending too much time with the Americans.
We walked around the outside of the house together. The coarse gravel path was as golden as the stone house, and crunched under our feet. Adelaide Baker flicked her riding crop lazily against her boot as we moved. I hoped that she wasn’t about to start on me with it: I’d heard of women like that. I told her, ‘It’s odd. I don’t feel much like an officer yet. It’s as if I’m pretending, and will be found out at any minute.’
‘Don’t worry. You’ll find that other people treat you as if you are one. Then it fixes itself. It was like that when I married Peter. People treat you differently when you’re rich, too.’
Lunch was cold beef sandwiches. The beef was old. I was glad that I still had all of my teeth.
‘Your American, Washow: he liked you for yourself. And he liked your body.’
‘I know. They’re not bad, are they?’
When Peter Baker breezed in later he was followed by Cliff.
He said, ‘Don’t get up,’ to Adelaide, and bent to drop a kiss on her upturned cheek. You’d think they were Darby and Joan if you didn’t know better. He asked me, ‘She given you a drink yet, young Charles?’, but before I could answer, bellowed, ‘A bottle of whisky, please, and three tumblers,’ over his shoulder. Barnes must have been lurking outside the door.
I asked Cliff, ‘What are you doing here, Cliff?’ then, before Cliff had time to reply stuck in, ‘Nice to see you again Sir Peter,’ for Baker.
They lined up on me like a half section of Kraut fighter planes; taking turns.
Cliff said, ‘Sir Peter’s place is just round the corner from the Blunham pub; I offered him a lift when I heard he wanted to come back to talk to you.’
Baker said, ‘So you’ve come to find our Grace for us?’
I wished they wouldn’t keep saying that. I didn’t know where the hell she was. Anyway, if you’re wondering where this is going, Adelaide withdrew, and left the men with a bottle of ten-year-old. You’d think that there wasn’t a war on.
My old skipper once told me to always expect the unexpected. I should have listened to him. If I had I would not have been surprised when Cliff and Baker told me what they’d arranged for the next few months of my life. Nice. These people were like icebergs: ninety per cent was under the surface, waiting to rip you to pieces. I’m surprised it wasn’t sealed with a special handshake. Maybe it was, because they didn’t even bother to smile.
First of all Cliff said, ‘You haven’t got a proper job any more, Charlie, and you won’t want to get back into a Lancaster, not this close
