enthused by an irresponsible detour to the Radiolympia Show, where they had been entranced by the miracle of television, which would be like having a tiny cinema theatre in your own living room, they explained, as easy to turn on and off as a radio. For only thirty-two guineas, said Sylvia, and not taking up any more room than a sideboard—and Dinah hadn’t the heart to remind her that all television entertainment would cease instantly once war was declared.
Jeff turned up for tea, having done his own tour of the London streets and handed in his story. There was the usual patient, undemonstrative crowd in Downing Street, he said, watching the Foreign Office and the Prime Minister’s residence. There was increasing activity at the War Office, where poker-faced generals still wearing mufti came and went. The King was back at the Palace from his holiday in Scotland. The Fleet was admitted to be at war stations. All leave was stopped, and everywhere key men were disappearing quietly from their offices and clubs and homes.
“Take it easy,” said Bracken again to Virginia, when he came in for dinner. “We’re all right over the coming weekend apparently . Somebody is still trying. Ambassador Henderson for one, in Berlin. We got hold of Johnny on the phone there, to our intense surprise—had quite a chat. He says the British Embassy has begun to burn its papers. Well, they did that last year, too, before Munich. Most of the British journalists have left for the Danish frontier. Warsaw is said to be gay and defiant, with beautiful weather—but Johnny thinks the big story is still in Berlin. It’s a very baffled Hitler—up against a fed-up world. The question is, Will he be able to take it in now that he cannot accomplish another Munich compromise?”
Jeff was broadcasting to America at midnight, and they were going to try for one of their three-way roundups, bringing in Johnny from Berlin and also the man at the Paris bureau. Beamed at New York, Jeff’s broadcasts were not received over the English wave-lengths, so Dinah always joined Bracken in the little studio at the BBC and heard Jeff through the earphones . She arranged to meet them there tonight as usual.
During dinner Jackson at the office rang up to say that a cable had just been received from Evadne in New York. After two postponements because of her enchantment with life in America while Stephen and his father worked on the new show, they were sailing at once for England—there was no difficulty to get passage in that direction. Bracken dictated a cable right back insisting that they wait for an American boat. Returning to the table, he met Virginia’s anxious eyes with a smile.
“That settles that,” he said. “They’ll be coming straight into it. I just happened to remember the Lusitania.”
Sylvia began to wonder if Evadne might be disappointed in her for trying to save the animals when children and old people would be in need of help. Evadne had the strength of character to come back from Williamsburg when she didn’t have to, because of her warden’s post in Bayswater. That brought Stephen into the war zone with her, and the new show would have to wait. Stephen wouldn’t just sit around while Evadne worked at the post, he would get that mobile canteen going, and, if there were no theatres in London, he would organize entertainment for the forces….
They were all in it, up to the ears, Sylvia was thinking. Dinah went every day to the WVS office in London, Mona had her ambulance, Jeff would be out chasing the fire engines—theywould all be on a job when the bombs started coming down and they would have a right to expect Jeff’s wife to do something constructive too. And the papers were saying that animals who had no place to go were better destroyed….
Midge could go to Farthingale with the children to be really safe, but he wouldn’t understand that, he would want to be with her, and she had to be with Jeff in London. The people at the
Jeff turned up for tea, having done his own tour of the London streets and handed in his story. There was the usual patient, undemonstrative crowd in Downing Street, he said, watching the Foreign Office and the Prime Minister’s residence. There was increasing activity at the War Office, where poker-faced generals still wearing mufti came and went. The King was back at the Palace from his holiday in Scotland. The Fleet was admitted to be at war stations. All leave was stopped, and everywhere key men were disappearing quietly from their offices and clubs and homes.
“Take it easy,” said Bracken again to Virginia, when he came in for dinner. “We’re all right over the coming weekend apparently . Somebody is still trying. Ambassador Henderson for one, in Berlin. We got hold of Johnny on the phone there, to our intense surprise—had quite a chat. He says the British Embassy has begun to burn its papers. Well, they did that last year, too, before Munich. Most of the British journalists have left for the Danish frontier. Warsaw is said to be gay and defiant, with beautiful weather—but Johnny thinks the big story is still in Berlin. It’s a very baffled Hitler—up against a fed-up world. The question is, Will he be able to take it in now that he cannot accomplish another Munich compromise?”
Jeff was broadcasting to America at midnight, and they were going to try for one of their three-way roundups, bringing in Johnny from Berlin and also the man at the Paris bureau. Beamed at New York, Jeff’s broadcasts were not received over the English wave-lengths, so Dinah always joined Bracken in the little studio at the BBC and heard Jeff through the earphones . She arranged to meet them there tonight as usual.
During dinner Jackson at the office rang up to say that a cable had just been received from Evadne in New York. After two postponements because of her enchantment with life in America while Stephen and his father worked on the new show, they were sailing at once for England—there was no difficulty to get passage in that direction. Bracken dictated a cable right back insisting that they wait for an American boat. Returning to the table, he met Virginia’s anxious eyes with a smile.
“That settles that,” he said. “They’ll be coming straight into it. I just happened to remember the Lusitania.”
Sylvia began to wonder if Evadne might be disappointed in her for trying to save the animals when children and old people would be in need of help. Evadne had the strength of character to come back from Williamsburg when she didn’t have to, because of her warden’s post in Bayswater. That brought Stephen into the war zone with her, and the new show would have to wait. Stephen wouldn’t just sit around while Evadne worked at the post, he would get that mobile canteen going, and, if there were no theatres in London, he would organize entertainment for the forces….
They were all in it, up to the ears, Sylvia was thinking. Dinah went every day to the WVS office in London, Mona had her ambulance, Jeff would be out chasing the fire engines—theywould all be on a job when the bombs started coming down and they would have a right to expect Jeff’s wife to do something constructive too. And the papers were saying that animals who had no place to go were better destroyed….
Midge could go to Farthingale with the children to be really safe, but he wouldn’t understand that, he would want to be with her, and she had to be with Jeff in London. The people at the
Similar Books
