‘Funny,’ Honor said slowly, ‘it is almost the very same thing Chips used to say to him.How he had the personality to be the natural successor to his grandfather, and restore the House of Hohenzollern … But what about his father, who is still alive?’
‘Hopelessly compromised,’ Doris said cheerfully.‘Far too much friending and falling-out with Hitler.No one knows what he’s about anymore, nor trusts him.There are the brothers, of course, and at least one of them is interesting too, but my charge is Fritzi.’
‘Does he know?’
‘Not a thing,’ Doris said.
‘Why?’
‘No point, until it is decided.’
‘So Chips flatters Fritzi that he could be the kaiser.His father forces him to join the Luftwaffe.The ambassador encourages him to be vocal in his support for Hitler, so he can write to President Roosevelt and tell him that even Germany’s princes support the Reich.And all the while you conspire to see will he do as the figurehead of a coup.And the boy himself knows nothing?’
‘In a nutshell.’
‘No wonder he’s on edge, even if he doesn’t know the half of it.Funny, Elizabeth said something yesterday … Asked me had I noticed how very popular Fritzi was …’
‘Did she now?That girl is far less empty-headed than she lets on.’
‘No one could possibly be as empty-headed as she lets on!But what has this to do with Albert?’
‘Albert is a bit of a detour …’
‘How so?’
‘Well, I’m here for Fritzi.But once I saw that Albert was not really a servant—’
‘How do you know?’
‘Oh, I think we all know …’
Honor remembered Maureen:Quite a different creature …
‘He’s an unknown quantity,’ Doris continued.‘He’s been here, in England, with Fritzi, since he arrived two years ago, and we want to know why.Whose man is he really?Everyone thinks he was sent by Fritzi’s grandfather, to keep an eye and report back to the old man.But now, well, I wonder if the Reich don’t believe Fritzi’s protestations of loyalty.Even though he swore an oath.’
‘Yes, I’ve seen him clicking his heels, for all the world like a wooden marionette, when he meets von Ribbentrop.’Honor tapped her own heels together, sharply, but the effect, in her white plimsoles, was feeble.
‘He joined – and his brothers – because his father wished it.Hitler was just one of Wilhelm’s many schemes to restore the family; he’s like a dog with many buried bones.But that particular bone may choke him.Hitler is nothing like the usual cavalcade of madmen with whom he has made common cause.Albert is certainly watching Fritzi.But who is he watching for?Is he watching to confirm that Fritzi is what he says he is – loyal to the Reich – or is he watching in case he is the exact opposite?And if so, on whose behalf does he watch?He might even be at the same game I am, only for a different group of well-wishers; there are so many now—’
‘It’s like the bit at the end of a steeplechase when the entire field converges just before the finish line, all straining to be first?’Honor said.
‘Exactly.But either way, I want to know.’
‘Hence your visit to him last night?’
‘Indeed.’
Honor made a face.‘I see it now.But how can you, Doris?’
‘How indeed?I wonder myself.Necessity does strange things.’
They were silent then, as they had been silent together so many times, as the day grew and swelled around them, an orchestra where all the seats are filled.
‘I say, Doris, you don’t think it’s a bit suspicious that Albert made such a pass, so very quickly?’
‘You’ve obviously never been in a taxi with Oonagh’s husband, Dom,’ Doris said with a laugh.
Honor laughed too, but mechanically.‘I don’t mean to suggest for an instant that you aren’t irresistible, darling, but really – what if Albert is watching you, just as you are watching him?’
