An oily salesman glided up to her. ‘Can I be of assistance, madam?’

  Lucinda was slightly taller than him and enjoyed looking down her nose. ‘I don’t know, can you?’

  She was being deliberately obtuse and he blinked and looked a little less sure of himself. She took pity on him.

  ‘I have a mink coat that came from here last year but I don’t need it. I’m about to join the WAAF, I hardly think that anyone in the services owns or wears something of this quality. I have the receipt here.’

  His expression changed. ‘Please, come this way. Mr Griffiths, the department manager, will be delighted to speak to you.’

  He ushered her into the inner sanctum and when the salesman explained the reason for her visit she was greeted warmly. Lucinda handed over the receipt.

  ‘Yes, I remember this purchase. If you’d be kind enough to allow me a few minutes to examine the coat I can tell you what it’s worth to us.’ He snapped his finger at the salesman who was still hovering in the doorway. ‘See that Miss Somiton has coffee and pastries while she waits.’

  ‘Yes, sir, I’ll do that immediately. Would you care to follow me, Miss Somiton? You can sit comfortably in the viewing room as it’s not being used at present.’

  The coffee arrived promptly and was quite delicious, the pastries a little dry but tasty nonetheless. She was just pouring herself a second cup when Mr Griffiths bustled in, beaming.

  ‘Miss Somiton, I expect that you came to us today because you know that we are desperately short of good furs. The demand is still there but we’ve been unable to offer the selection we usually have.’

  Lucinda sat up, trying to look calm, as if she had indeed come in knowing this pertinent fact. ‘Well, Mr Griffiths, my mink is top quality. I’ve rarely worn it so it’s like new.’

  He nodded so vigorously that his gilt-framed glasses slipped down his nose. ‘Exactly so, which is why I’m able to offer you three thousand guineas – more than your father paid for it.’

  She almost choked on her biscuit but managed to cough the crumbs into her handkerchief. ‘Excellent, then we’re both delighted with the transaction.’ She smiled; she couldn’t help herself. ‘Tell me, Mr Griffiths, do you really have women prepared to pay thousands of guineas for a coat in the middle of a war? It hardly seems credible.’

  ‘I cannot tell you her name, but a member of the aristocracy is at the head of our waiting list for a coat exactly like yours. I’ve examined it minutely and as you say it looks as it did when you purchased it last year.’

  ‘If you could be so kind as to make out a banker’s draft in my name, Mr Griffiths, I have a taxi waiting. I am working as an ARP warden at the moment and need to be back on duty as soon as possible.’

  ‘I anticipated your decision, Miss Somiton, and I have it here. Thank you for bringing it to us as I can assure you that any furrier in Town would have been just as eager to buy from you.’

  She checked the contents of the envelope, it was correct, and then put it in her handbag. She shook hands with Mr Griffiths and sailed out, scarcely able to believe her good luck. The first thing she needed to do was hide the envelope, leaving it in a handbag was too risky as somebody could snatch it from her. Maybe inside the velvet gas mask cover would be better as nobody would try and take that.

  Once safely behind a marble pillar where nobody could see her, she removed the envelope and pushed it inside her blouse, tucking it firmly underneath her bra. It would be uncomfortable but absolutely safe there, even safer than in her gas mask cover.

  She glanced at her wristwatch, she was in good time, so could saunter through the department store admiring the expensive items on display. The glass shelves and counters were less full than they had been before the war, but if you had the money there was still plenty to buy.

  There were no longer the extravagant displays for pedestrians to gawp at as they walked past, but the window dressers still produced something to look at. The fact that the plate glass was crisscrossed with ugly tape meant it was hard to see what was behind it anyway. The windows couldn’t be lit at night which was another reason to keep displays simpler.

  When she emerged, the taxi was there but there was no sign of the two ladies she’d travelled with. She walked up to the driver.

  ‘How long are you prepared to wait?’

  ‘Five more minutes, miss, and then we’ll have to go.’

  ‘What if I give you half a crown to wait a little longer?’

  ‘Then I’ll wait ten minutes. Coppers will be after me if I’m here any longer than that.’

  ‘Thank you. I’m paying this time so shall we sort that out now and save the fuss when we get there?’

  She thought if she kept him occupied looking for change they might be able to stay more than the ten minutes he’d agreed.

  In the nick of time, the other two passengers hurried up. ‘Thank you so much, my dear, for persuading the taxi to wait. We really weren’t looking forward to having to catch the underground or, even worse, a bus.’

  This time they insisted that she sat between them on the more comfortable leather seat. ‘We guessed that you were selling something, was it a very grand coat?’

  ‘It was a mink, full length and silk lined. It seems that the aristocracy is still desperate to have such a thing and are prepared to pay a ridiculous amount to own one.’

  ‘Where are you returning to, my dear?’

  ‘I need to catch a Clacton train.’

  ‘As do we, so we can sit together and you can tell us all about yourself.’

  The woman in the ridiculous burgundy hat did all the talking but her companion nodded and smiled appropriately. The last thing Lucinda wanted was to reveal her name or where she lived. She was notorious; even though there hadn’t been a photograph of her in the papers her name had been plastered all over the gossip columns.

  ‘That would have been delightful, ladies, but I’m meeting a friend in the refreshment room. A gentleman friend, he’s being posted overseas very soon and this might well be the last time I ever see him.’

  They smiled, nodded and left to catch the train. Lucinda had written to Ralph and asked him to meet her at midday. If he’d got her letter, she wasn’t sure he’d come. She’d deliberately chosen the refreshment room at the station as it was public and would allow her to leave if things become difficult. Ralph could be rather controlling at times and despite her wish to end things properly, tell him she’d no intention of being named in his divorce, she rather regretted arranging this meeting.

  What had seemed a reasonable idea in the safety of Harbour House now seemed anything but.

  7

  Emily banged loudly on the bedroom door. ‘Sammy, I want to speak to you. Come out immediately.’

  The door was flung open and not by Sammy. George, still not dressed, glared belligerently at her. ‘He’s not speaking to you and neither am I. You can bugger off, all of you.’

  His appalling language made her lose her temper. Her hands shot out and she grabbed him by his pyjamas and lifted him from his feet. She dropped him on the floor in front of Doris and Penny.

  ‘You stop right where you are, you nasty little toad,’ Doris said and glowered down at him. ‘You move an inch and I’ll clobber you. Got it?’

  George’s face paled. His scowl vanished and he shrank back without a word. He understood that Doris wasn’t like his sister, she would thump him without hesitation.

  Emily rushed into the bedroom and found Sammy flinging on his clothes. ‘I’m sorry, Emily, I never wanted to stay up here. He’s gone mad, he scares me. I don’t want to share with him when he’s like this.’

  ‘Good, hurry up and then you can come down and spend the day with us. He can remain in here until our parents return and can deal with whatever’s going on.’

  Sammy didn’t answer, he ran from the room in bare feet, his socks and slippers in one hand. He fled past George and the girls and was downstairs in seconds.

  ‘You’ll stay in your room until our parents return. Daddy can deal with you,’ Emily said to George.

  ‘I don’t have to do what you say, you’re just my sister.’

  Doris poked him hard with her foot. ‘You do as you’re told, matey, or you will have me to answer to. I’m not nice like your Emily.’ Doris leaned down and picked George up by the front of his dressing gown. ‘You get my meaning?’

  He didn’t answer but didn’t argue either. Penny had opened the bedroom door wide and Doris tossed George in. Her brother landed on his knees; that served him right as he’d done the same to her but with more venom.

  Emily slammed the door shut, making things rattle inside. ‘He won’t come down whilst you’re here, Doris, thank you for that. I don’t know why he’s behaving so badly. I don’t recognise him as my little brother, he’s like a different person. I’m not surprised that Sammy’s frightened of him.’

  They’d moved away from the door so could converse without being heard by the culprit. Penny said what Emily was thinking.

  ‘I doubt that he’ll try and come after us but unless somebody’s permanently watching the stairs he could sneak out the front door – or if we’re in the sitting room he could go out of the back.’

  ‘Then let’s work out how we can stop him doing that. He’s being absolutely horrible at the moment but I don’t want him wandering about outside in this weather. Last year Sammy’s brother almost died after being outside in the cold all night.’

  Penny was examining the door. ‘I think if we put some wedges on this side he won’t be able to push it open. Do you have anything that would do?’

  ‘There are a couple in the drawer in the kitchen table – the one where we put all the bits and bobs that we don’t know what to do with,’ Emily said.

  Leaving her two friends to guard the door, she raced downstairs, almost colliding with Sammy who was lurking halfway down the passageway that led to the kitchen.

  ‘Goodness me, I could have sent you flying. I’ve just got to get something from the kitchen and then we’ll all be down here. Don’t worry, George won’t be joining us.’

  ‘I think he’s gone doolally, Emily, he’s not like my brother any more. Do you think the boxing, being punched in the head, has made him like this?’

  ‘I doubt it, but something’s certainly wrong. Our George’s still in there somewhere, we won’t give up on him, will we?’

  Sammy didn’t answer, he looked away.

  ‘Has he been bullying you? Has this been going on for a long time?’

  Sammy nodded. ‘It started when you went to Kent. At first I thought he was just jealous because he hadn’t gone, then it got worse when Lucinda started being nice.’

  ‘Are you saying that whilst Lucinda was being so beastly to all of us George stopped being nasty to you?’

  ‘I am, he liked the fact that she was unpopular with everyone.’

  ‘I see. Anyway, it’s nothing for you to worry about. I’m sure Mummy will say you can move into one of the empty rooms until things have been sorted out.’

  The little wooden wedges did the trick and Emily was certain George wouldn’t be able to escape even if he wanted to. She was concerned that he’d had no breakfast, had nothing to drink in his room, but it would only be until lunchtime, and she was quite sure nobody died from hunger or thirst in so short a time. If he needed the loo then he had the necessary item under his bed.

  Although they tried to enjoy their time together, knowing George was upstairs in disgrace, probably hungry and miserable, put a damper on the morning. Emily returned from putting the rolls in the fast oven of the range to bake to find Penny and Doris hovering by the sitting-room door.

  ‘We’ve decided to go home, Emily, we don’t want to be here when your parents get back. It’s not fair on George,’ Penny said.

  ‘I don’t blame you, I’m really sorry as we were all looking forward to spending the day together. Thank you, I didn’t like to ask you to leave but it’s definitely the best thing for everyone.’

  She embraced her friends and they hurried through to the back corridor to collect their outdoor garments and boots. They didn’t come back and she heard the door close behind them.

  Sammy was huddled in one of the armchairs pretending to read a book. He looked up. ‘I like your friends, but I’m glad they’re gone. Is it going to be very bad for George? Will he be sent away like my other brother was?’

  Emily dropped to her knees and hugged him. ‘Of course he won’t, silly, he’s not a bad boy. Something’s wrong but I’m sure our parents will discover what it is and be able to put it right.’

  ‘Does that mean he won’t be getting into dreadful trouble?’

  ‘I’m afraid not. He’ll have to face the music first and then when he’s been forgiven by all of us hopefully, he’ll be able to tell us why he’s behaving so badly. Bullying you is almost unforgivable – I’m not exactly sure how Daddy will deal with what’s happened.’

  Even the appetising smell of freshly baked rolls wafting from the kitchen couldn’t restore Emily’s appetite. Her stomach was churning and she was both dreading her parents’ return but also eager to see them.

  ‘I’m going to go for a walk,’ Sammy announced as they heard the train that they’d be on steam past the house.

  ‘No, you’re not, you’ve got to be here so you can tell them what’s been happening. They need to know everything, not just about today. This is going to be absolutely horrible for all of us and I just hope that Lucinda doesn’t come back in the middle of it. We really don’t need anyone else to witness this family disaster.’

  The next half an hour dragged most dreadfully. ‘They’ll be back in a few minutes. Let’s get the dining-room table laid and everything ready for lunch.’

  ‘We’re going to have to tell them before we have lunch, otherwise they’ll want to know where George is.’

  ‘I’m not going to serve anything, just get it ready. If we’re nervous, imagine how George is feeling right now? He’s not a monster, he’s our brother and he must be absolutely terrified.’

  The pram had to come in through the back door and a few minutes later they heard the door open and the banging and bumping as it was manoeuvred over the step and into the scullery. Sammy pressed himself close to her and Emily put her arm around him.

  Daddy walked in and took one look at their faces and his happy smile vanished.

  ‘Your mother’s taking Grace up to have a proper nap upstairs. What’s going on? Where’s George?’

  Lucinda found an empty table tucked away in the corner and ordered a pot of tea for two from the waitress who didn’t look old enough to have left school, let alone be waiting at the table.

  ‘You thirsty then, miss?’ the girl said with a grin.

  ‘I am, but I’m meeting a friend who should be here at any minute. So please make sure I do have two cups.’

  The girl wrote the order painstakingly on her pad with the nub of a well-licked pencil. ‘Do you want any toast? We’ve just had a tray of buns – what about a couple of them?’

  ‘Yes, I’d love two buns, but no toast, thank you.’

  ‘That’ll be threepence for the buns and sixpence for the tea. Ninepence altogether.’

  Lucinda handed over a shilling. ‘Keep the change, thank you.’

  ‘Cor, ta ever so,’ the waitress said and dashed off to collect the order.

  The tea and buns arrived a few minutes later but there was still no sign of Ralph. Lucinda glanced at the large clock on the wall – it was now ten minutes past midday. She decided that she’d drink her tea and eat the buns and if he hadn’t turned up by then she’d leave and never think about him again.

  ‘I’m so sorry, Lucinda, for keeping you waiting. I can’t tell you how happy I was to receive your letter.’

  She slopped her tea onto the table. ‘Goodness, I didn’t see you coming. You’re only fifteen minutes late and the tea’s still hot.’

  Whilst he was removing his gloves and trilby she was able to sneak a glance at him. He looked different somehow; she couldn’t quite put a finger on it. He didn’t use Brylcreem, so his hair wasn’t slicked back, his brown curls were flopping over his forehead as usual.

  ‘You’ve lost weight,’ she said as he sat opposite, his usual charming smile absent.

  ‘I have; it’s been a difficult few weeks as you might imagine.’

  ‘Certainly for me, as I was the one who was castigated and pilloried, sent to live in the country in disgrace.’ Her tone was sharp and something she didn’t recognise flashed in his eyes.

  ‘I’m aware of that, of course, and offer my unreserved apologies for a second time that my wife chose to reveal our affair in such a public way.’

  ‘You asked me to marry you before we slept together. I thought we were unofficially engaged, that you were just waiting for the opportune moment to speak to my parents.’

  He didn’t answer and to fill the awkward silence she strained his tea into the waiting cup and pushed over one of the buns. ‘Here you are. I shouldn’t have come but I wanted to hear why you’d deceived me. To look you in the eye whilst you tried to explain.’

  His knuckles were white, his posture tense. In the few months they’d been together he’d been nothing but loving, charming, funny – this was the first time she’d seen him like this. She wasn’t sure if he was angry or embarrassed by her attack.

  ‘I’m going to try and explain why I behaved the way I did. I’d been separated from my wife for several months before we met and had no idea I was going to fall in love with you – I thought we were just going to go out to dinner a few times, see a show, dance at a nightclub. That’s why I wasn’t honest and when things changed between us it was too late.’

  ‘I see. I still don’t understand why you seduced me, you knew I was inexperienced, that if I got pregnant you wouldn’t be able to marry me and yet you still did it.’