‘How much I admire America,’ Fritzi said smoothly, ‘the energy and freedom of those vast spaces.’
Maureen saw Chips give him a fond look.
‘Well, you must come and visit,’ the ambassador said, ‘we would be delighted to host you.I can think of many who would be very happy to make your acquaintance.’
He looked eager, Maureen thought, like a huntsman who hears a promising rustle.
‘It would be a pleasure to show you around,’ Rose said.
‘You two have met?’Chips asked, smiling broadly.
‘Yes indeed, at Kathleen’s coming-out ball just a month ago.Prince Friedrich’ – Rose placed a light hand on Fritzi’s arm – ‘was kind enough to dance with my daughter and sit beside her at dinner.’
So, thought Maureen, looking from Rose to her husband to the prince – that was the way the wind blew.Or one of the ways.
‘It was entirely my pleasure.’The prince did one of his slight bows.
‘How sweet,’ Maureen said, ‘thatboththese delightful young girls should be so friendly already with our prince.Isn’t it, Chips?’
Chips’ smile grew less broad.
At dinner, Duff was beside Rose, and at first Maureen was pleased.She had dreaded him being next to Elizabeth, fearing the influence she might have.She was definitely half-cut by the time she arrived into the drawing room, with Kick on one side and Brigid on the other, as though keeping her upright.The girls were giggling.Elizabeth, swaying slightly between them, laughed too, but not, Maureen thought, at the same joke.
‘So terrible of me,’ she had declared, ‘to keep you all waiting.’She sounded delighted, and showed no interest in any of the introductions, nodding cheerfully, then whispering loudly to Duff, ‘Fix me a drink, darling,’ even though Chips had already begun to organise their progression to the dinner table – ‘Mr Ambassador, if you take Lady Dufferin …’
But, watching the attention Duff now paid to Rose Kennedy, the graceful, deferential way she inclined her head towards him, and noting again the determined thrust of her jaw, Maureen began to feel cross.Why was he listening so intently to her?What was she saying to him that caused him to lean in so close?Chips, on Maureen’s left, talked over her to the ambassador, describing a recent party Emerald Cunard had given – ‘Herr von Ribbentrop, Hitler’s man in London, a most charming fellow.I must arrange a little soiree for you two to meet …’ – so she was free to give all her attention to Duff and Rose.As she watched, Duff said something – one of his wry jokes, judging by the slight twitch of his lip – and Rose threw her head back, laughing prettily.Maureen gritted her teeth.Rescue came from an unlikely source.
‘I say,’ Elizabeth drawled, nudging Rose’s arm with her elbow, ‘what do you feed that daughter of yours?I saw her in the pool earlier, tearing up and down as though pursued by a shark.Quite ferocious, I must say.’Reluctantly, Rose’s attention was dragged away from Duff, and Maureen saw her cast a disapproving glance around the table, no doubt wondering why there weren’t even pairs for theplacement.
On the other side of the ambassador, Honor stared down at her lap and Maureen wondered had she snuck her book in and was now reading it covertly.If so, Maureen thought, well, Chips would never notice.As well as talking to the ambassador, he was keeping an eye on Kick, on his other side, and occasionally interjecting in her conversation with Fritzi.He had no time to spare for his wife.
Fritzi was between Kick and Brigid, and Maureen watched as he turned first one way, then the other, engaging each girl smoothly in correct conversation.If he occasionally looked uncertain, it was the uncertainty of choice, she decided.The difficulty of knowing where to land the bulk of his attentions.And, perhaps, uncertainty at the speed of the back-and-forth between the girls, who chattered to one another across him as often as they spoke to him.That seemed to confuse him.Perhaps he expected them to wait their turn, she thought; silent unless he spoke to them.
‘Lady Dufferin,’ the ambassador interrupted her thoughts, ‘you must know a great deal about Ireland.I understand you grew up there.I thought you might help me to understand what the thinking of that country is about the situation with Germany?’
Maureen was half bored at the thought of ‘more war talk’, as she thought of it – although quickly she realised that Joe Kennedy was a man determined that there would be no war – but flattered by his certainty that she knew ‘a great deal’ that was of use to him.Not flattered enough to give in easily, however.‘I thought you were Irish,’ she said, raising an eyebrow.‘And therefore must know all there is to know.’
‘Irish-American,’ he said smoothly.‘Meaning I have a sense of kinship, but I don’t pretend to know the country the way you do.But it’s strategically important, which means I need to know more.What do you make of this man de Valera?’
Maureen told him what she knew, mainly parroting things she had heard her father, Ernest, or her husband say.That de Valera was cunning, a realist, pragmatic but only ever had one view in mind – the successful independence of his own country.As she spoke, she realised it might be time to know more.She resolved to ask Chips to order an extra copy ofThe Timeswhile she was at Kelvedon, and to pay more attention to what was said – by Chips, Duff, even this American.She would, she decided, be as well-informed as Rose seemed to be.
As they talked, she saw that Duff was watching them, even while he conversed with Rose and, as much as he could, with Honor on his other side.Good, thought Maureen.If she could be jealous of the attention he paid his dinner companion, so could he.She leaned in closer to Joe Kennedy, letting it be seen that she considered his questions thoughtfully.
After dinner, the men didn’t linger over port but came straight to the drawing room.Duff caught up with her where she stood looking at a display of tiny animals in fantastically coloured glass that Chips had positioned on a small table.A seal, a swan, a fawn, a lizard, all in colours like boiled sweets.‘Pretty, or hopelessly vulgar?’she asked.He ignored the question.
‘What were you and the ambassador talking about?’
‘What were you and his wife talking about?’
‘War.Peace.What America might do – what else?You?’
‘The same.’She smiled and fluttered her eyelashes at him, hoping he would think she dissembled.
‘Good.Later, you must tell me exactly what he said.’
And she realised with fury that he wasn’t jealous.He really did hope she had been quizzing the ambassador on America’s intentions, storing up nuggets, like a squirrel putting away nuts, that would be useful to him in his understanding of what was to come.She picked up one of the glass animals – a stork with orange beak and long spindly blue legs.Her hand closed hard around it and one of the legs snapped.Quickly, she shoved the pieces into the evening bag that hung by a slender chain from her wrist.She would tell someone later.Honor, not Chips.
Chapter Twenty-Two
