‘We will be trained,’ Archie replied. ‘I’m fit and able and ready. I want to go, Kate, and there’s nothing you can do to persuade me otherwise. I’m not going to be one of the ones left behind. I’m no coward. It’s my chance to prove myself.’
‘Prove yourself to who? Not me,’ Kate said. ‘What if you don’t come back? What if . . .’
‘Don’t you think I’ve considered that? I’m not a fool. I know what I’m letting myself in for, but the alternative is worse, Kate. Would you have me wave goodbye to my pals and not be there by their sides? We’ll look out for each other.’ He reached across and took her hands.
Kate wasn’t sure he did know what he was letting himself in for, but she knew what it would mean for her, waiting and not knowing. She could feel the tears welling up inside her. She had only just found Archie and now he was leaving her. God knows when he would be back or if he would be back at all!
She let him hold her hands for a while longer, her mind racing through everything that had happened since she had left Micklewell. She was good at her job, she was capable of taking on new challenges and she had survived the departure of Eliza. She had found herself accepted by Clara and Philip despite being a servant in their parents’ house. Oh God, Philip! What of him? Would he want to go to war too? If Archie was going to join up then surely Philip would too. The tears trickled down her cheeks.
Archie pulled out a clean handkerchief and gave it to her.
‘It will be all right, Kate, you’ll see. I’ll be back home before you know it. And we’ll write to each other. It can’t last forever, can it?’
Forever was a place that she didn’t dare think about at that moment. Even tomorrow, next week, next year was lost in a mist of unrecognizable shapes and shadows. The future was a place that kept eluding her. She wasn’t even sure of where she wanted that place to be or who she wanted it to be with. All she knew was that she couldn’t hold on to those who were beyond her reach.
Chapter Eighteen
September 1914
The letter she received from her mother that Friday morning troubled her, so much so that she was fearful of opening it. Kate had written a few weeks before and had asked about everyone’s health, about Dot and how she was managing with the household chores, about the baby, Henry, who was no longer a baby, but a toddler now, and about her brother, Fred. She scanned the letter looking for her brother’s name. Fred was just the right age now to enlist. At twenty years old his head would be full of the same foolhardy ideas as Archie. There it was in her mother’s shaky handwriting! She could feel the fear in the shape of her letters; touch the tear stains on the page. She saw her mother sitting at the kitchen table trying to work out how to put her worries into words. In the end there had been just the three stark words:Fred’s joined up.
Kate sat on the edge of her bed with the letter in her lap. So, it was beginning, the world she had become accustomed to was changing again. Mary came into the room and flopped down on her bed.
‘I’ve got to get these shoes off,’ she complained. ‘I’ve been on my feet all day, they’re killing me.’
Once she had removed them she sat wriggling her toes and revived a little, gradually taking in Kate’s expression.
‘Bad news?’ she asked.
‘My brother’s enlisted. He’ll be going to France once he’s completed his training,’ Kate replied.
‘Him and thousands of others,’ Mary said. ‘That’s Lord Kitchener’s idea. Mrs B says she thinks that Master Philip will be joining them as well before too long.’
Kate couldn’t bear the idea of yet another of the people she cared about getting swept along in this insanity. For that was what it was. Men giving themselves up to be shot. She couldn’t forget Mrs Bowden’s words about her brother and how his experiences of war altered him, disturbed his state of mind as well as injuring his body. She couldn’t bear the thought of Fred, Archie and Philip placing themselves so readily in harm’s way. She determined to try to speak to Philip. He wasn’t due to return to Cambridge until October and had been working at the London County and Westminster Bank at his father’s suggestion to ‘get some experience of the real world’. He was often late home. Their movements about the house rarely coincided but she needed to find out about his intentions, whether he was going to volunteer and join the flow of young men leaving for France. Clara would be the one to ask.
Since returning from Malvern, Clara had involved herself in getting to know as many influential women as possible. According to Mrs B, the mistress had given her instructions not to make luncheon for Clara because most days she was meeting with some of the most important women in the area, some of them with titles. She had joined various women’s groups. Many of them were suffragettes who continued to campaign for women’s rights, but at the same time were determined to do what they could to support the war effort. Kate had seen very little of her as she was busy accepting invitations from a number of wealthy women involved in fundraising. Her social circle moved her far out of Kate’s reach, but Kate wanted to know what Clara was involved in and if there was any way she could help. She missed her talks with Clara and the involvement with the suffragettes. The country was at war and she had to accept it, but if men like Archie and Fred could join up and risk their lives, then there must be something she could do to help the war effort too. She also needed to know about Philip. Kate had a plan.
‘Mary,’ Kate said, ‘would it be all right if I take Miss Clara’s tea into the breakfast room tomorrow morning? There’s something I need to ask her.’
Mary didn’t even lift her head off the pillow. ‘Anything that means I have less to do is all right with me.’ She yawned. Kate was grateful for her tiredness and therefore lack of curiosity.
Clara was surprised to see Kate appear with the tea tray at half past eight the following morning.
‘How lovely to see you, Kate,’ she said smiling, ‘but what’s wrong with Mary? Not ill, I hope?’
‘No, Miss Clara, I asked to bring your tea,’ Kate replied. She placed the tea tray down carefully on the bedside table and stood waiting for Clara to take her eyes off the book she was reading and give her full attention.
Kate’s silent still pose must have made Clara aware that something was troubling her for she said, ‘I’m sorry I haven’t had much time for our chats lately, but I’ve been busy here, there and everywhere. You might have heard of Lady Randolph Churchill?’
Kate shook her head.
‘Well, she’s persuaded me to get involved with the American Women’s War Relief Fund. They’re raising funds to support the war effort. The idea is to set up knitting factories to supply warm clothing to the soldiers at the front. We should be able to pay women wages to work there. There are also plans for a hospital.’
‘What about the suffragettes? What will happen to Votes for Women?’ Kate asked.
‘This is important for the suffragette movement, Kate, our chance to show that we women are as strong as men. We may not be on the front line, but we can still get things done. There’s more to war than holding a weapon in your hands. I feel privileged to be involved in this, to be doing something to help and, of course, it’s completely acceptable to my parents.Lady Randolph Churchill’s personal invitation, you understand. Father didn’t dare object. She might be an old lady but there’s nothing wrong with her powers of persuasiveness. Just leave him to me, she said. I don’t know how she got him to agree, something to do with her social contacts and suitable suitors for young women who show their capabilities through their actions, I believe.’
‘What about Master Philip?’ Kate asked. ‘Will he continue his studies?’
