by Mary Wood
Seeing him in uniform hadn’t been their first reminder that Britain was at war. All along their route they had witnessed the banks of sandbags that people were stacking around their homes. And they had seen others busy painting over road signs. They had listened to a dozen conversations about what was happening, when they had taken breaks for lunch or refreshments at inns along the way, but all that was done in an enthusiastic way, as if it wasn’t really happening. But all at once Elka sensed danger, and felt that Brendan was going to bring the reality of war to their doorstep.
After greeting and congratulating them, he apologized for not being at their wedding. ‘I did try to get leave, but there is so much going on at the moment, and I am part of a team. All of its members were needed over the last few days. Look, I haven’t just come to pass on my good wishes and excuses – I could have done that any time, rather than disturb your honeymoon. There is something I need to discuss with you. It is urgent and very, very secret.’
‘Oh? That sounds serious, Brendan. Look, come in. It’s good to see you, and don’t worry about disturbing us. The times are what they are, and we all have to make sacrifices.’
As Jhona said this, Elka knew that the lightness he’d injected into his voice belied the way he was feeling. She sensed that he was just as concerned about the situation as she was.
Once inside, Elka asked the maid to show the men into the sitting room and bring tea. ‘You two make yourselves comfortable in there: warm yourself by the fire that I’m sure is blazing up the chimney. I’ll just pop upstairs for a moment.’
‘Is Uncle Christian here?’
Elka hadn’t yet got used to this man, especially someone in his position, the nephew of a friend of her mother, calling her relatives by the same titles as she did. It was a funny custom of the British – as if it was polite to use terms given to relatives rather than a given name. Poles would always address a non-relative adult by the title of Pani or Pan – Mrs or Mr.
‘No, he was well enough to come down for the wedding and, I think, had a marvellous time – his expression was one of happiness the whole time. Mama thought it would be nice for him to stay in Leicestershire for a while.’
‘Oh, that’s good. My God, what he has to go through is unbearable, and all brought on by the last war. It beggars belief that our country, and his generation, have to face that all over again.’
‘Yes, it does. I won’t be a minute.’
Running up the stairs, she escaped and had a moment to herself, sitting on what was now to be her own and Jhona’s bed. Looking around the room calmed her nerves. Edith had given Elka full rein over furnishing and decorating what had in the past been used as a guest suite. The work had started within a week of them getting here, and it had all been completed whilst they were away. The maid had been given instructions as to where Elka wanted everything placed.
The creams, reds and golds blended and gave the room a sumptuous, yet warm and welcoming feel. And the oak furniture, though heavy and from a different era, sat well in their new surroundings. In this room she had kept the red touches to the cushions and tie-backs on the curtains, complemented by a beautiful reproduction of the poppy-field painting by Monet, which hung above their bed.
She changed out of her travelling clothes into a comfortable pair of loose navy-coloured slacks and a white pleated, chiffon blouse with ties, which she knotted into a huge bow at her neck. Then she walked through into their sitting room and smiled at how lovely it all looked. It was just as she’d pictured it. She had achieved the lived-in look that she’d wanted, by commandeering an old comfy sofa and chairs that had been long abandoned in the attic. Having the sofa covered in a deep-red velvet enhanced the idea that many a family had sat on it and enjoyed a fireside chat. How she wished she and Jhona could do just that, as they had planned, and enjoy toasted crumpets with their afternoon tea while they chatted over all that had happened at their wedding. But it was out of the question to bring Brendan up here, because the feeling she’d had earlier now revisited her. She did not want this room tainted with whatever he had to say.
After her visit to their mostly cream bathroom, livened by red-spotted towels folded in neat piles on the shelves and set into a recess that had once been a chimneybreast, she rejoined the men, refreshed and ready to hear all that Brendan had to tell them.
Had she thought she was ready? After hearing Brendan talk, she knew she wasn’t. It was all too much to take in! Spies? Special agents? Clandestine operations!
‘I can see you are shocked, but Section D is very well prepared and organized. I put you both forward as candidates for this job because I could see, when we first met, that you both have the determination and courage to carry through what you feel is right. You have shown that in the way you took on the journey to France, which can’t have been easy, even though your family had money to pay the way. And, since then, in the way you have adapted to life here and how you handle the dreadful situation that your sister and your people are in. And, of course, most importantly, because of your language abilities and your knowledge.’
‘What exactly are you asking of us? Where do we fit in?’
‘We need propaganda delivered to the Polish people, Jhona. They are cut off from the outside world. They must think they are abandoned and that they fight alone. They do not realize how much Churchill admires them and knows how they are fighting back in a courageous way. We want to get this information to them, and encourage them to continue their efforts. We want to find out what the Polish people need in order to help them in their fight, and to inform them that we will help all we can. Plans are afoot to supply them with agents to help to organize the different Resistance groups into a force to be reckoned with. And we want to assure them that eventually we will liberate them, and that we entered into a state of war to defend them – and we will. If you agree to this, have you any contacts that you think would help you?’
‘Yes, my brother-in-law, Baruch Elburg. He and his men are in hiding. They are in the Tatra Mountains, between Slovakia and Poland. I have a good idea where, as we all went on skiing holidays there, to Zakopane. His family and ours are well known there and we have many friends in the area. They will be hiding Baruch and taking care of him. They will also be helping him all they can, I am sure of this. It won’t be difficult for us to make contact.’
‘That is excellent. So you both ski? Are you good at it?’
‘Elka is better than me – she won competitions – but I am also very competent. Why do you ask?’
‘Because that skill will be needed, and we were planning on teaching it as part of your training. We see the only route into Poland as being via those very mountains, and the method of transport will be to ski over them. Look, you will hear all the details of that later, but tell me about this Baruch?’
Elka was astonished. The mountains were treacherous, and skiing over them took tremendous skill. But she didn’t object; instead she answered his question. ‘Baruch leads a faction of the Jewish Resistance. He began to gather followers before the invasion. Being politically minded, he could see what was going to happen. None of us took much notice, and we thought of him as an agitator. We have since come to admire him and wished we had listened to him.’
‘This just gets better. He sounds exactly the man to coordinate operations in Poland. And you are both the right material to make good agents. What do you think? There will be a very difficult training course to master, but I’m sure you’re up to that.’
Elka felt elated at being able to do something for her people, but her elation was mixed with a fear of the danger involved, and a feeling of not having any choice. This task was being asked of her. She would rather it wasn’t, but how could she refuse?
‘Elka?’
Jhona had been looking at her – waiting and wanting, she knew, for her to be the first to accept. Holding his gaze, she nodded. ‘This is ours to do, no matter what the consequences. We have to do it.’
‘I agree, my darling. And at
least we will be together.’
‘For the most part, yes. But you will be required to carry out separate missions, too.’
Neither of them commented on this, although it made Elka feel a little more afraid. But she was determined not to show it. Ania sprang to her mind, as did the need to get her sister out of Poland. She told Brendan all she knew about what Ania was doing and the risks she was taking. ‘Will there be a chance of getting her out? That will be my bargaining point. I will do all that is asked of me, as long as the powers-that-be work on a way of rescuing my sister.’
‘I will put it to them. I understand that Ania is identical to you?’
‘She is. We are mirror-images . . . Wait a minute – she could be me! What if I go in, and she comes out? It would work, I know it would.’
‘But, darling . . .’
‘No, Jhona, I don’t mean that I should stay there. What if she meets us in the mountains and then, using my papers, she is air-lifted out with you? I could hide until you can return to collect me with my papers. It’s perfect – it is a wonderful solution.’
‘It’s not a bad idea and it could work, although there is the matter of training. You will see, as you progress through it, that you will need some very exacting skills. Ania won’t have those, and she will need them, if she is caught. Combat skills – how to kill an attacker with a knife; the use of some of the excellent equipment being devised by scientists and inventors like Laurent—’
‘Laurent! Laurent is inventing things already? I knew he had been talking to Mr Churchill, but since we have been here, he has just seemed to be a teacher.’
‘He is, but in his spare time he comes up with some astonishing gadgets that will help in espionage – pens that become a knife or a radio, that kind of thing. A lot of them are simply ideas at the moment, and not all have been taken up yet, but if this war goes on and Hitler does manage to hold us back, Churchill is thinking we may very well need such gadgets to help agents support the Resistance groups that will form everywhere.’
‘That won’t happen, will it? I mean, surely the Allied forces will beat Hitler back and liberate Austria, Poland and Czechoslovakia?’
‘It is hoped so, but Churchill is not underestimating Hitler’s might and influence. We have to be ready. It is the fools around Churchill who are frustrating his efforts. But he is working away at topics like the espionage tools we will need, and is trying to increase the arms budget. He is very worried about what will happen if Hitler throws his full might against us in Belgium. The Nazis could well take France.’
‘Oh no!’
‘I’m afraid so. That is why Laurent wanted his mother to come here with you, but she refused. And it is why people like you are so important to our war effort. Initially as a means of reaching those who feel they are in the wilderness and encouraging them to hold on, but later, who knows? Anyway, can I go back and tell Command that I have the perfect couple for the job?’
‘Yes,’ they both said, in unison.
Jhona reached out to Elka and squeezed her hand. ‘We can do this, darling. I know we can. We know the area; we know the people – our people. It is the least we can do.’
‘We can, darling. I will be sorry to put back my medical training, but that is a small sacrifice to pay, compared with what we may be able to achieve. When do we begin training, Brendan?’
‘Is tomorrow too soon? I know it is a lot to ask, but there is great urgency. We have to reach out to these people, and we have to do so quickly. The training will take about six weeks, depending on how you both adapt. We would want to have you on your first mission within the next two months.’
‘That soon?’
‘Sorry.’
‘Just tell us where to report and we will be there,’ said Jhona. And Elka nodded.
‘We have no specific training station. It will take place at a number of locations – with the RAF for parachuting, the Army for weaponry, and the Secret Service for clandestine operational training. You will be instructed very soon about your itinerary. And thank you. Thank you so much. I had faith in you, and you haven’t let me down.’
As the talk turned to more general matters, Brendan revealed his fears and concerns to them. ‘There are things being talked of that sometimes make my skin crawl with fear. This war will be a different kind of war from the last one. Hitler is ruthless. It is thought that if we don’t beat him quickly, the fight will be brought to this country. Maybe by invasion, but certainly by air raids. It is terrifying.’
‘It is already happening in our country.’
‘I know. I’m really very sorry, Jhona.’
The silence that fell encompassed all of their fears for the future.
‘I wonder how many of us will survive it all?’
‘It doesn’t bear thinking about, Elka. No one will be safe – at home or fighting abroad. But come on, you two. This is your honeymoon. It will be cut short, but I mustn’t encroach any further on what time you have together. I’ll go now. I’m driving over to see my mother.’
‘We were sorry to hear she isn’t well. Poor lady. Illnesses of the mind are very difficult to understand. Far easier if someone has a broken leg or something,’ Elka said.
‘I know. I do my best, but it’s difficult. I sometimes wonder what it would be like to have parents. I do get a short glimpse of it now and again, if Mother is thought well enough to come out for a while, but it is fraught with anguish on her part, as well as mine. I don’t know what I would do without my Aunt Ada, and Aunt Annie, and your mother and Laurent and another of my Aunt Ada’s friends, Aunt Rene. Aunt Ada is very close to your mother, and I have always looked on your mother as my aunt. She has done so much for me.’
‘I know, Brendan, and I am proud of her. She is very loyal and loving and shows none of this nonsense about people of different classes not mixing. Her work for the poor and setting up Jimmy’s Hope House reveals the kind of woman my mother is, and I hope I can emulate her. I will begin by telling you that I will look on you as a brother, if that is all right with you?’
‘Oh, it is, Elka. And it means so much to me to hear you say that. I have been afraid of how you would view me, because in a way I have had from your mother the affection you should have been having all these years.’
Spontaneously they hugged. Coming out of Brendan’s arms, Elka picked up on something he had said, which had made her think he knew the truth. ‘You said, “Your mother and Laurent” and not “Your mother and your father”?’
‘Yes, I know the truth. Only Aunt Ada and I know, outside your own family; everyone else is to think that Laurent is your father. Aunt Ada told me a long time ago about Albert and how he tried to save her son, my stepbrother Jimmy. And she slipped up by telling me how he had taken your mother and held her hostage. When you contacted her, Aunt Edith also told me the story, and that she hoped to pass off Laurent as your father. I wasn’t sure if she had told you that I knew, or not. It makes you wonder what happened to this Albert, though. You must be curious.’
‘No. I – I mean, a little. I am just happy with how things are. And I am glad you know the truth about my parentage. It is easier not having any secrets, but you must be careful to refer to Laurent as my father.’ No secrets! The secret I hold about my father’s real plight is already weighing heavily on me. But, for my mother’s sake, I mustn’t let it out.
Not wanting to discuss it any further, Elka took a deep breath and steered the conversation in a different direction. ‘Anyway, it means that I have a British soldier’s blood in me, which makes me all the better as a candidate for the work you are asking of me. Now, off you go, we have a marriage to get under way!’
After Brendan had left, Elka leaned back in her chair and for the first time since meeting him gave thought to how life must have been for Brendan. He had grown up knowing her mother, in the way that Edith should have known her. He was a man who had suffered a life of contrasts: of knowing her mother’s world, and the deep love of his aunt, and of coping with a
mentally ill mother, and on top of all that, he was having to cope with Ginny turning up and her being the daughter of his half-brother. Elka felt Brendan showed great strength and courage in the way he faced up to it all. She would latch onto his courage and take heart from it. She would be inspired by it and would carry out what he had asked of her in a way to make him proud, because already she wasn’t looking on Brendan just as a friend, but was coming to love him like a brother.
The beautiful grounds of Bethlem Royal Hospital gave no hint of the misery encased within its walls. Parking the car, Brendan took a moment to take in its beauty, imagining himself to be in the grounds of a country mansion. However, this didn’t last long.
Pulling his shoulders back, he went inside the hospital. The usual smells of carbolic and bleach hit him, and he heard cries of anguish and saw some patients shuffling around as if lost in their own world, their mouths slack, saliva running down their chins. These were the harmless ones. Sometimes his mother was one of them, allowed to roam the corridors at will, but at other times when he visited he would find that she’d had a violent episode and was being kept in a locked ward.
Brendan hated this place. Yet he admired the work being done and the goals that the staff and doctors hoped to achieve for each of their patients.
‘Brendan!’
The sound of his mother’s voice cheered him. It told him that she was able to come and go within the confines of the building and therefore must have kept well, since he last saw her a month ago. Yes, he did ring and enquire in between his visits, but he knew from experience that he wasn’t always told the truth about her condition.