Chapter 2
The Trollop
Wharton Manor – The Following Morning
The members of Squadron 93 descended for breakfast quite early in anticipation of the arrival of the young ladies. By eight-thirty the dining room was filled with every male in the manor, but in stark contrast to the previous evening they were all in uniform. As no young ladies were to be seen anywhere, by nine o’clock soldiers had begun to take bets on whether or not Miss Fifi would indeed find the nerve to show her face in the light of day.
At nine-fifteen Miss Fifi bounded energetically into the room and, still sporting her feline mask but otherwise clothed quite elegantly, she exclaimed merrily, “Good morning, gentlemen! I apologize for our tardiness today, but as I’m sure you well know, we ladies must necessarily prepare ourselves prudently when young men such as yourselves are within our grasp.”
At their appreciative twitters, Felicité carefully removed her mask, thereby eliciting a collective gasp from the assembled airmen. Observing that her unveiling had struck the mark, she now announced pleasantly, “I hope that you are all feeling refreshed from last night’s party. And I do hope that you enjoyed last night’s penultimate event. I know that I did!” The gathered troops immediately broke into shared laughter, and the tenseness was thankfully broken.
At this Felicité announced rather pointedly, “And now gentlemen, I have quite the surprise for you. Ladies, please come forward!” At this the five remaining young ladies stepped elegantly into the dining room. Although each remained concealed within her mask, every one of them was now dressed quite stylishly. The effect was quite stunning, causing an appreciative hush to come over the troops.
Felicité now took her place at the table, as if it were a day like any other day, and the remaining five young ladies joined her, each now demurely doffing her mask. Suddenly, the room was a cacophony of the boisterous chatter that is quite typical of a large group dining together. Under these rather unusual circumstances, everyone seemed quite at ease despite the still unfolding developments at hand.
Felicité and the young ladies subsequently enjoyed a festive breakfast, served ably by their already fed flyboys, and then each of them arose and commenced to interact with the soldiers. As the men had also been incognito the previous evening, the room was a veritable cauldron of activity as they reintroduced themselves to the young ladies, thenceforth getting to know their counterparts yet again within this new and quite garrulous setting.
At this point, Robert the Robin stood and spoke, “Ladies, last night I was known to you as Robert the Robin. My other guests here this morning already know me as Flight Lieutenant Sutherland, but I invite you lovely ladies to call me Trant. We airmen who are about to go off to war salute you!” at which the airmen applauded in uniform approval.
Pressing his hands downward to hush his fellow servicemen, Trant now proffered, “As a memento of our collective appreciation, we of the 93rd now invite all of you to join us as honorary members of the 93rd Squadron of the His Majesty’s Royal Air Force,” at which the room became deathly silent. He now added, “Ladies, come forward, if you will,” at which the six young ladies arrayed themselves before the airmen. And now, he commanded, “Raise your right hands, if you please,” thereby eliciting the intended reaction. He then followed with, “Do you solemnly swear to serve our country throughout the coming conflict in any and all ways becoming to God and King?”
At this, all six young ladies responded in unison, “We do!” And at this, the room erupted in yet another round of applause, the airmen rushing forward to supply congratulations to their honorary brethren.
Having completed the formalities, Trant now took Felicité’s hand as a form of reintroduction and politely asked her to remain beside him. He then continued, announcing, “Miss Delacroix, on behalf of my fellow airmen, may I say thank you. Thank you for enlightening we men assembled here as to the most inspiring of mysteries a woman can offer,” at which the crowd broke into spurious applause. Quieting the crowd, Trant continued with, “I for one am forthwith resolved to end this war as quickly as possible, so that I may get on with the business of discovering further of those mysteries!” at which the crowd broke into even more boisterous applause.
Trant now added, “Seriously, we are greatly indebted to you ladies, and we resolve that your generous actions shall be justly rewarded by our actions in combat,” and at this, the troops gave one last round of applause.
Shortly Thereafter
Felicité slipped away from the throng and, making her way to the sitting room, she accidentally encroached on Lady Sutherland’s solitude. “Oh, I’m sorry, Lady Sutherland,” she exclaimed, “I hadn’t realized that you would be here. Pardon me,” and having said this, she turned to withdraw from the room.
“My dear, please don’t go. I’ve been hoping that you would come. Please, stay and chat with me for a few moments. Take a seat here beside me if you will.”
“Thank you,” Felicité replied, taking a chair beside her erstwhile mentor.
She commenced, “Of course, I already know that you are Felicité Delacroix as a result of the information that I received from the rector at Oxford. But tell me a bit about yourself, my dear.”
“There is nothing to tell, Lady Sutherland. I was born in Italy, but I moved to France when I was very young. My mother died, you see, and my father decided to return to France. We moved to Paris, where he soon remarried, and he began teaching at the Sorbonne in the first arrondisement. As a result, I was always around books and learning. My father became very well known in his field, and he was offered a position at Oxford when I was nine years old. Thus, we moved to England, and I excelled in school, so that I was eventually admitted to studies there, in Queen’s College.”
“Very interesting, my child. Let me see, if memory serves, you are not yet twenty-one. Am I right?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
“Excellent. My dear Felicité, I suppose that it is an obvious understatement for me to say that you shall remember this weekend for the rest of your life, but I cannot help myself for saying it. And now that you have shown such extraordinary compassion to our young soldiers, I must also admit to you my heartfelt thanks for what you have done for me as well. Thank you, my dear, from the bottom of my heart.”
Staring at her in confusion, Felicité murmured, “How so, Lady Sutherland?”
“My dear, I had a similar opportunity before the outbreak of the Great War. Well, I’m afraid that I prudishly rejected that opportunity, and as a result I subsequently spent the better part of the last quarter of a century regretting that decision. Now I have the distinct feeling of having redeemed myself, and it is all because of you.”
“I see…” Felicité murmured, perhaps finally beginning to understand her meaning.
“Now, I can tell by your morose demeanor that you are regretting your performance last night, and under the circumstances that reaction is quite understandable. But you must focus on the positive. When war breaks out here in England, and it will very shortly I assure you, your certitude of the rightness of your actions will only grow with time, and I can say this with absolute conviction – the day will come when you shall feel only pride at the compassion that you displayed this weekend.”
Felicité gazed at her for a moment and responded disconsolately, “I doubt that, Lady Sutherland.”
“Even so, may I say what a pleasure it has been to know you. You are a truly extraordinary young lady. It is my fervent desire that this war shall be short-lived. And I hope that I shall have the pleasure of seeing you again one day at Wharton Manor.”
“Thank you, Lady Sutherland,” Felicité responded and, sensing that she had been dismissed, she arose to depart the room.
“Not so fast, my child,” Lady Sutherland responded, herself rising. “Please give me a hug, as I shall miss you terribly.” The two embraced, and Felicité subsequently stepped gracefully from the room.
A Short Time Later
Trant found Felicité alone in the library. Standing near the windows, she appeared to be staring in the general direction of the tennis court. “Why are you in here all alone, Miss Delacroix?” he inquired.
“For some reason, I don’t feel like I fit in here with my proper clothes on. No one seems to know quite how to treat me.”
Seeing that she was apparently in an introspective mood this morning, Trant suggested empathetically, “Miss Delacroix, as entrancing as you were without your evening gown, you are perhaps even more radiant this morning.”
At this she brightened a bit, responding doubtfully, “Thank you, Mr. Chicken.”
Ignoring her somewhat derisive remark, he responded, “I believe I detect a note of sadness, Miss Delacroix. Is there anything I might do to restore your cheerfulness?”
She paused and, holding his eyes with hers in a desperate bid to extract his consent, she queried softly, “After the war, perhaps someday, you might grant me a favor. May I please have your promise on it?”
“A favor? What sort of favor?”
“A post-war visit to Wharton Manor. Perhaps even a match of sorts?”
“Match? What sort of match?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Perhaps we should address that question at the appropriate point in time.”
Her wistful look and her perfectly put request, together they were simply too much for him to resist. He therefore responded with attendant aplomb, “By all means, Miss Delacroix. After what you did this weekend, that is the least that I can do to repay you. When this is all over, you shall have your favor. I promise.”
Shortly Thereafter
Trant observed as all six young ladies assembled in the entryway and offered their somber farewells to the troops. There was much embracing, accompanied by numerous solemn promises, as if everyone assembled that weekend had been close friends for a lifetime. Then the ladies made their way to the waiting vehicles, and their departure was greeted by one last singing by the troops of ‘God Save the King’. And then the two automobiles pulled slowly away from Wharton Manor.
The troops departed within the hour, all except for Trant, who lingered for a bit with his mother. They retired to the sitting room, where Lady Sutherland took her favorite chair and gazed wistfully from the window. “It seems only yesterday that we sat here discussing the possibility of having a party for the troops. Time does fly, my son.”
Completely missing her poignant meaning, Trant observed, “Yes, mother, but despite the shortness of time, you managed to put on a fabulous event.”
“I wonder,” she began, and then pausing a moment, she gazed out the window. Then, recommencing, she added wistfully, “I wonder where we shall all be a year from now? I wonder, will the world be a better place, or will it be someplace that we find quite intolerable?”
“Only time will tell,” he responded, only now beginning to comprehend the depth of her meaning.
Lady Sutherland now inquired offhandedly, “I say, this may perhaps be premature, but did you fancy any of the young ladies?”
Peering at her suspiciously, he countered with a question of his own, “Why mother, is there one in particular that you had in mind?”
Placing her hand over her chest in denial, she responded defensively, “Why, I should never pretend to interfere in your selection of a partner, my dear!”
Grinning impishly, he supplied with palpable sarcasm, “Of course not! Perish the thought.”
Now smiling in embarrassment at having been found out so easily by her own son, she confessed, “It’s just that, I found one or two of them to be quite charming in their own way.”
“Why, I declare, I can’t remember the last time you were so entirely evasive about anything at all, mother. Please, just get to the point, if you will.”
“Well, I suppose…” she murmured and, taking up again, she surmised, “Well, perhaps the young lady dressed as a barmaid, or, well, I don’t know…perhaps the French kitten? What was her name?”
“Felicité, as I’m quite certain you well know,” he responded in obvious resignation.
“Yes, of course, that’s the one,” she agreed and, catching his eye, she inquired hesitantly, “Did she perhaps strike your fancy?”
“Nice thought, mother, but it is entirely out of the question.”
“And why do you say that, if I may be so forward?”
“She is not fit for an earl, mother, as you yourself well know.”
“And what makes you say that?”
“There is of course the unfortunate fact that her family does not belong to the peerage, which as you well know does not completely rule her out. But when one adjoins that with her highly inappropriate display last night, she has by her own actions removed herself from the possibility of ever becoming the wife of a future earl. She is quite frankly a trollop, dear Mother.”
“Ha! What a crock of unmitigated British priggishness and ignorance of youth!” she bellowed and, calming a bit, she followed with, “Mark my words, my child, by the time this war has ended you shall discover the absolute absurdity of what you have just said.”
“Perhaps, mother, but that day is surely far in the future.”
The Battle of Britain commenced four days later.
Of War and Women Page 4