‘Billy Wilcox?’ Topsy said, frowning. ‘I don’t think I know him. Is he one of the St Ives Wilcoxes?’
Lady Honoria ‘Topsy’ Sumner-Walsh liked to think of herself as a woman of the people. She even made some rather grand socialist claims about her intention to one day marry a poor man and pursue a life as the wife of a lighthouse keeper or something similar. This didn’t change the fact, however, that her intimate circle was rather different from Bobby’s. Topsy was certainly a part of life in Silverdale, but with her title, her film-star charm, her extensive lands and her grand house, she was very much set on a pedestal by the ordinary village folk.
This made Bobby think of an old saying of her mother’s. She couldn’t help smiling as she remembered it.Never put folk on a pedestal, our Bobby. They’ll nobbut want dusting.
Topsy threw down her trowel and put her hands on her hips. ‘Now Birdy, are you laughing at me? I must say, I think that’s too much. I’m sure I’m doing it just as it said in the book old Fletcher, the head gardener, gave me.’
‘I wasn’t laughing at you.’ Bobby forced her lips straight. ‘Sorry. You just reminded me of something my mother used to say when she was alive. No, Billy Wilcox is the son of a widow lady from the village. He was reported missing in action two days ago. I thought that might be the news you’d heard. Everyone’s been talking about it.’
‘Oh. No, I didn’t hear about that.’ Topsy’s eyes took on a faraway expression. ‘I say, that’s rather hard luck on his mother. Ought I to send something for her? That’s the sort of thing my father used to do when he was the squire here.’
‘I’m sure she’d be very grateful. She isn’t wealthy, and I suppose there’ll be a lot to arrange.’ Bobby held out the seed packet for Topsy to take another handful. ‘What was your news?’
‘I probably shouldn’t tell, but I’m going to all the same because it’s been so deadly dull around here since all the children left.’
When Bobby had first met Topsy five months ago, Sumner House was being used by the government as a boarding school for evacuees. The school had been forced to close, however, following the discovery that the headmistress was neglecting the welfare of children in her care. Nevertheless, the powers that be had refused to return it to its rightful owner, and Topsy continued to live in the cottage with her old nanny.
‘Are they reopening the school?’ Bobby asked. ‘I suppose the government must be planning to do something for the war effort with your house since they’ve refused to give it back to you.’
‘They are. You’ll never guess.’ Topsy’s eyes took on a gleeful sparkle, as if she had something of great interest to impart. ‘Sumner House is going to be a hospital for airmen. I knew Charlie would be interested in that, when he’s so close to becoming one himself. And I’m going to be a nurse there, how about that?’
‘You’re going to nurse?’ Bobby found it hard to keep the disbelief from her tone. She couldn’t imagine fluttery, fun-loving Topsy in the calm and collected role of nurse.
‘That’s right. I volunteered for the VAD. I’m still waiting to be invited for an interview but I’m sure I’ll be accepted. They must be desperate for nurses and I know I’d be darling at it. Wrapping bandages, mopping brows and all that, just like Florence Nightingale. Besides, the chairman of the British Red Cross is an old friend of Father’s.’
‘Will you not find it rather… gruesome?’
‘Oh, I’m sure I can stand the sight of blood if it’s in the name of duty, as ghastly as it is. Of course I’ve never been tested, but if other women do it then I don’t see why I shouldn’t be able to.’
Bobby decided to remain silent about her doubts on this point. ‘When will the hospital open?’
‘They started moving in beds and things this week. I’m not sure when the first patients are going to arrive – when the Germans have shot a few more of them down, I suppose. Sumner House isn’t much of a country seat, but I should think it could house thirty wounded men – perhaps more.’
Bobby flinched. ‘Must you talk about men being shot down so casually?’
‘Oh, now don’t think it’s because I don’t care. Of course I do. That’s why I offered myself as a nurse. It’s only my silly way of talking.’ Topsy brushed off her skirt and stood up. ‘Let me wash this beastly muck off myself and we’ll have some tea.’
They left Norman snoozing in his bed of weeds and went inside the cottage. Bobby followed her friend to the kitchen, where Topsy washed the dirt of the garden from her hands.
‘Now where do you suppose the tea things might be?’ she said, glancing vaguely around the kitchen. ‘I’m always at sixes and sevens when Maimie goes out.’
She looked at Bobby expectantly, who took the hint.
‘You go and sit down in the parlour,’ she said. ‘I’m sure I can find everything. I’ll bring the tea through when it’s brewed.’
‘I couldn’t let you do that. You’re my guest.’
‘Honestly, I insist.’ Bobby smiled. ‘I’m very particular about how I take my tea. You’d better let me do it if you want me to visit again.’
‘Well, if you really insist. You’re just an absolute angel, Birdy.’ Topsy floated out of the room – she always did seem to float rather than walk – leaving Bobby to hunt around in the cupboards for the kettle, cups and a tin of tea.
To be honest, Bobby was rather glad to have a break from Topsy’s company for a short while. Conversations with her friend could feel a little like being on a speeding train with your head poking out of the window.
The news about the airmen’s hospital had interested her. The decision to locate it here must have as much to do with the presence of a new RAF training school some ten miles away as it did the restorative power of the Dales air, she supposed. The sound of planes flying overhead had been unnerving at first, particularly for her father, who still suffered flashbacks of the trenches. However, both Bobby and her dad had now become used to the familiar sound of the Wellingtons and Halifaxes used in the airmen’s training humming above them at night. She wondered what difference the hospital would make to their sleepy lives here, and how the airmen would find Silverdale. Even more than that, she wondered how her vivacious, scatter-brained friend was going to get along as a nurse.
Bobby’s last appointment of the day – apart from her date with Charlie at the pictures in Settle that evening – was with Mary, who had agreed that Bobby could accompany her on a visit to poor grieving Ida Wilcox.
Bobby left Topsy’s cottage as she always did: exhausted by her friend’s fast-paced and somewhat demanding conversation, and a little homesick. Bobby had become genuinely fond of Topsy in spite of her foibles, but as nice as it was to have a lively, fun girlfriend of her own age in Silverdale to spend time with, she did find herself missing Lilian whenever they were together. Topsy was a good friend in her way, but she was no substitute for the twin sister who had, until recently, shared every aspect of Bobby’s life since they’d lain side by side in their cradle. It made Bobby sad – or at least wistful – to think of her sister down in Greenwich, forming new friendships and living a whole new life that didn’t involve her twin at all.
