The Death of Hope by Andrew Wareham (inspirational books for women txt) 📕

“Very much so. I like his wife – though notas much as my own!”

She laughed and held his arm the tighter.

“She seems far more clever than me, Simon.”

“I expect she may be. Very blue, in the oldterm. She seems happy.”

“How could she not be? She is obviously inlove with him and he is everything one could ask for in a soldier. I preferseamen!”

“Then let me introduce you to LieutenantHiggins. I have told you of him.”

“Is that a warning, Simon?”

Higgins was at his best in society, had beentrained for years, Simon suspected. He introduced his mother, very correctly.

“A pleasure, Mrs Higgins.”

“Entirely mine, Commander, and Mrs Commander!I have wished to meet you ever since you first showed yourself such a friend aswell as captain to my good son!”

“Mr Higgins has the makings of a fineofficer, ma’am.”

Alice smiled and said nothing, thinkingthat the young man had two arms and two legs and a head, all the makings anyofficer could wish for.

“To be decorated twice at your heels andpromoted quickly to lieutenant, Commander, is all that his mother, any mother,might wish for. I am sure we shall see much of each other in Town when this waris finally over, sir.”

They smiled and passed onto the next setwaiting for them, came eventually to a lieutenant commander leaning heavily ona walking stick as he stood to greet them.

“Well done, young Sturton! Andcongratulations to you, ma’am!”

“Captain Smallwood! You are looking betterthan I had ever hoped for, sir.”

“Not ‘sir’ – you outrank me now, Sturton. Backon my feet, more or less. I shall be working with the Commodore at Harwich fromnext month. I do not doubt I shall see more of you then.”

A minute or two and then to the Commodorein person, able just to find time for the wedding of his protégé and delightedto make Alice’s acquaintance.

“Was that Brigadier Baker, the VC, I sawyou with just now, Sturton?”

Simon explained the circumstance andcaught Richard’s eye, made, left the distinguished pair in conversation.

“How many more, Alice?”

“Almost completed the round, Simon. YourUncle Isaacs remains, together with his lady. I shall speak to them then retireto change.”

The good wishes of the clan were offeredand gratefully accepted.

“If you should be in London in the nextweek or two, your Grandfather wishes to have a word, Simon. I believe he isplanning! He sends his congratulations for your new ship, by the way.”

Simon wondered just how much influence theold man had brought to bear.

A week of honeymoon, the Navy forgotten,the couple happy in each other although Alice was hesitant in joining in theiractivity of a night – she had been sheltered and was a quiet girl, Simon toldhimself. They spent a few days at the Perceval manor in Kent, finding the houseto be relatively new, large and not especially interesting and the parkploughed and down to wheat for the duration of the war.

“We can restore the paddocks when it is allover. The stables buildings are still there and there will be a place forponies.”

The reference to children, veiled thoughit was, was unwelcome to Alice. She was not at all sure that she looked forwardto pregnancy, inevitable though it might be. Not to worry! She welcomed her husband’sadvances, as her mother had told her she must, and tried to show enthusiasticthough she was not entirely certain how…

A week in London was more entertaining toher – she was a country girl, hardly knew Town and wished to make up for thatlack. She shopped, despite being told that the stores were empty, and bought awardrobe appropriate for a married lady and much enjoyed that part of her newexistence.

Simon was taken to meet various lesserpolitical figures, men whose faces rarely appeared in the newspapers but whoplayed a significant role behind the scenes. They were the kingmakers, he wastold, the gentlemen whose yea or nay determined just who should rise, or fall, atWestminster.

His Uncle Perceval was open in his explanations,accepting that as a Naval officer Simon would have little idea of how thingsactually worked.

“We are going to place you in theConservative interest, Simon. Your Grandfather Isaacs agrees that they are thecoming party. The Liberals head the government now but will inevitably findthemselves taking the blame for the war and falling into opposition within a fewyears. Doesn’t matter a great deal, in fact, but it will be as well for you tobe a member of a government. You have to remember that the Conservatives fallnaturally into two sets, one of politicians, the other of natural backbenchers –youths of monied parents and the right schools and almost no ability who haveto be found something to do. The braying, foxhunting mass can be ignored; theyexist to lounge on the benches and troop through the lobbies at order and keeptheir mouths shut otherwise. You are to be one of the politically awake Tories,which is why we are making the introductions now, well before you can actuallytake a seat.”

It seemed rather ruthless to Simon. Hewondered what part democracy played.

“A lot and almost nothing, simultaneously.You must win general elections. Having done so, you can ignore the masses forthe next three or four years, provided all seems to go well. Power stillresides in Westminster and Whitehall, provided it is exercised discreetly. Thisnew Labour Party may change a little in the way things work. Not too much – it willbecome part of us if it grows important. You have the advantage that you are myheir. You will inherit a seat in the Lords sooner or later. It means that youcan never become Prime Minister – that now seems clear – but it also gives youa vast deal of influence for the whole of your life, if you wish to use it.”

He began slowly to realise that thegentlemen he met in obscure offices and of an evening at dinner were to anextent forced to entertain him. He would be part of the background, at minimum,for the next half century, assuming he survived the war, and could not be fobbedoff to lounge with the ignorant idlers of the backbenches. Like it or not, hewas there and was a link