‘Yes, I think there are times when every girl would. But artists and poets, like actors, are all reincarnations of Narcissus. They take wives, but are all firmly married to their own genius. Don’t you think I had dreams and feelings at your age? I too visualized Siegfried at my door. Fortunately, my parents made sure my door was kept shut, and instead of allowing me to be swept off my feet by a dreamlike hero, persuaded me to marry your father. It was a dutiful ordeal on my part. As a bride, I was haughty, disgraceful and unforgivable. Your father, a practical man, left me to my sulks in Baden-Baden and went fishing for a week.’
‘Mama, on your honeymoon? He went fishing?’
‘He’s clever as well as practical. He gave me time.’
‘Mama, you are you and I am me. I love Fritz. I want to marry him.’
‘Has he proposed?’
‘No. But he will.’
‘I hope he won’t. He’s quite wrong for you. He’ll never grow up. He’s a likeable boy, and that’s all he is.’
‘He’s what I want him to be.’
‘He’s what you think you want him to be.’
‘You’re forgetting, Mama, that he’s one of Germany’s finest flying officers.’
‘I’m not forgetting that at all. I’m grateful to him and all others like him. But that doesn’t make him a suitable husband for you.’
‘It would if his family were Junkers.’
‘Yes, it might, for he’d be a different kind of man then. One who would accept all the responsibilities of marriage. Sophia, good marriages are not made in heaven, but in drawing rooms.’
Sophia thought about that conversation now.
‘No,’ she said to Captain Marsh, ‘I’m not becoming uncertain.’
He sighed. He was faced with the consequences of an act stupid at best, dangerous at worst. Dangerous for her. If it was ever proved that she had gone willingly with him to Douai, her people would not forgive her. And her father, quite probably, would have him shot.
‘I shan’t like that,’ he said.
‘What do you mean?’ she asked, watching him. She felt that her eyes could not leave him alone. The recurrent agitation was beginning to be painful.
‘I was thinking your father might have me shot.’
‘Don’t be silly,’ she said, flaring up.
‘Yes, gruesome thought,’ he said.
‘You haven’t been caught yet, and even if you are, you’d speak up for yourself, wouldn’t you?’
‘Not without becoming hopelessly confused,’ he said, smiling at her.
‘Don’t be silly,’ she said again. She looked around. The copse seemed thick and lush. Her blood erratic, she said, ‘Is there no way we can get something to eat?’
‘Do you like rabbit?’ he asked, pointing, and she saw the long ears and quick hop of a furry creature.
‘If you can make it edible, yes, I shall like it. Could you catch that one?’
‘A man running after a rabbit is a clown. The rabbit always makes a fool of him.’
‘Well, try,’ said Sophia, ‘or we’ll starve before the night comes.’
The creature was nibbling not more than twenty paces from the edge of the copse.
‘Sophia –’
‘I think you should try,’ said Sophia. ‘It would make our relationship a little more agreeable, even if our countries are still at war.’
Captain Marsh studied the rabbit. She watched him.
‘I could shoot it,’ he said.
‘Then please do so. I’m famished.’
‘The shot will be heard,’ he said, gesturing towards the repair shops.
‘Then why did you suggest it?’
‘If they’d only do some engine testing, the noise would be loud enough to smother the sound.’
‘I am willing to wait for that to happen,’ said Sophia, ‘but is the rabbit?’
Captain Marsh laughed.
‘Sophia, you are really very likeable,’ he said.
‘Likeable?’ Her mother had said Fritz was likeable. For some reason, it seemed such a lukewarm word. One’s postman or stationmaster was likeable. ‘I’m likeable, Captain Marsh?’
He looked at her. Her loose, flowing hair was a bright cascade, and the lashes that framed her eyes were dark and soft. Her mouth, slightly parted, was warm and kissable. He shifted his gaze to the nibbling rabbit again.
‘I’m sorry if that’s offensive too,’ he said.
‘Oh, likeable is hardly cause for a quarrel,’ she said, and the rabbit hopped, whisked away and disappeared. ‘There, it’s gone. We’ve lost it through your indecision. Are you happy that you’ll end up starving me to death?’
It was a bitter little question, born of so much guilt and so many disturbing facets. It made him wince, and Sophia wished she could take it back.
‘Sophia, I must point out the situation isn’t what it was – you’re here of your own free will –’
‘Oh, I’m to be blamed for what has developed, am I?’ she cried.
‘I’ve no intention of blaming you for anything – damnation, look at that.’
She turned to follow his pointing finger. Along the road, seen from the shelter of the copse, an open car was moving. Clearly visible were its occupants, two German officers, a man and a woman, the woman at the wheel. The man was looking around, searching and peering. Sophia knew who he was. Major Kirsten. He had his eyes on the copse now. He spoke to his companion. The car travelled on.
‘They’re after us,’ said Sophia.
‘They were after us last night,’ said Captain Marsh.
Sophia was a little pale. Their eyes met. Hers dropped at once. They both knew the situation was impossible. She was German, he was British. Each knew they should be going their separate ways.
‘My father seems very determined,’ she said.
‘He’s probably very concerned. I’ll risk staying here until it’s dark, then make my own way into Douai. You must go now, you must get away from me, or those questions we mentioned will be very difficult for you to answer.’
Her every emotion was in agitation. All clarity of her mind disintegrated. She shook her head wildly, and her hair flew.
‘No,’ she gasped, ‘I’m going to Douai with you.’
‘Sophia –’
‘Don’t argue!’
A sudden roar startled them both. The new 160 h.p. Mercedes engine of the Albatros had come alive. The rabbit reappeared, jumping wildly, but finding a clump of sweeter grass, set to again. Captain Marsh drew his revolver and moved out of the copse. He sighted the revolver, both hands clasping it, with one finger stiffly angled. Sophia watched. He was very steady, very deliberate. The rabbit cocked its ears. The plane engine roared louder and then ran powerfully at test speed. Captain Marsh fired. The sharp crack was followed by sudden death. The rabbit, bowled over by the bullet, did not even twitch. It lay still and inert.
Two people in a car looked at each other.
Captain Marsh was not to know the car had stopped three minutes ago, at a little distance beyond the blind side of the copse.
Chapter Fourteen
MAJOR KIRSTEN SAID, ‘That, I think, was a shot.’
‘I heard something too,’ said Elissa, ‘just as the noise of that plane engine changed.’
The major had told her to pull up adjacent to a broad patch covered with firs and rhododendrons. They had sat for some minutes, making new guesses and sharing the feeling that the fugitives were always well ahead of all guesses. The major got out of the car now.
‘What are you up to?’ asked Elissa.
‘If you’ll stay here and look after the car, I’ll take a little walk.’
Elissa tensed.
‘I should come with you, I think, Major.’
‘If that was a revolver shot,’ said the major, ‘it’s possible our mad flyer has finally put a bullet into Sophia. In which case, he won’t hesitate to put one into you.’
‘Or you.’ Elissa alighted. ‘Please let me come with you.’
> ‘On the other hand, Sophia may have managed to put one into him and so dissolved an alien partnership.’
‘I think we should investigate together, Major,’ said Elissa, gently firm.
‘True, three good eyes are better than one,’ he conceded. ‘I must say, this place makes a very convenient starting point for a final hop into Douai.’
‘I’m worried that the man has his eyes on you now,’ said Elissa.
‘True again, someone fired that shot. Why, I wonder?’ Major Kirsten eyed the copse sombrely. ‘Damned if I feel at all comfortable about the reason. I think we’d better give the impression we’re looking for seclusion, not for him.’
‘I’d like clarification of that,’ said Elissa.
‘You’re an attractive lady, out for a drive with an admirer. It would be quite natural for us to wander into a wood to seek a little seclusion.’
‘Major?’ Elissa was startled and pink.
‘I assure you, nothing ruinous will happen to you. Forget my age and allow me to simulate harmless courtship. An arm around your waist, a kiss or two—’
‘Major? A kiss or two?’ Elissa was very pink. Major Kirsten’s blandness seemed totally unrelated to the tenseness of the situation. The man he was resolved to take and the young woman he was determined to return to her father as discreetly as he could, might well be in that copse, but here he was spicing the moment with whimsy. ‘You’re not serious?’
‘Only with your permission, Lieutenant. A courting couple seeking seclusion should arouse no suspicion.’
‘But if Miss von Feldermann is there, she’ll recognize you.’
‘Oh, I hope she’ll think my arm around your waist the significant factor. I shall look as if I’m in romantic pursuit of you, not in alarming pursuit of her. We shall talk, of course, and in romantic terms, while keeping our ears and eyes open. If you see them, pretend you haven’t.’
Elissa drew a long breath.
‘Yes, Major.’
‘You’re ready for your part?’
‘Yes.’ She sounded fairly composed.
He put his arm around her waist and they began a slow walk towards the copse. Elissa felt they might be walking into bullets, that the gun was already sighting on them. But Major Kirsten seemed quite unworried, taking on the attitude of a lover without any awkwardness. He was full of surprises. She could not imagine any of the other officers acting like this. He seemed to have put the war aside, and to have forgotten General Ludendorff’s imminent offensive. General Ludendorff was actually at Headquarters today, but Major Kirsten was completely absorbed in his search for Miss von Feldermann. He must care very much for her.
Their pace was leisurely, his arm still around her waist, and everything was quiet except for the powerful hum of the distant plane engine. Suddenly it stopped. Its cessation created a peculiar sensation of floating lightness.
‘If they are here,’ she whispered, ‘what will you do?’
‘Ignore them, unless the situation is such that I can point my revolver at him and get you to take his. If not, then I shall continue being your ardent admirer. With your permission, I shall kiss you –’
‘Major,’ she breathed ‘it will be rather like enacting Offenbach when the audience is expecting Wagner.’
‘Well, if we are aggressively confronted, we must improvise in what we do and say. Have no fears.’
‘I’m all fears,’ said Elissa, ‘and my apprehension is indescribable.’
‘Shall we turn back?’
‘No,’ whispered Elissa as they neared the copse, ‘for I’m sure this is the only chance I’ll ever have of playing Offenbach when the atmosphere calls for thunder and lightning.’
Major Kirsten smiled and his arm gave her waist the lightest of squeezes. They entered the copse. A little stream, running over a pebbled bed, glittered in the filtering light. Elissa’s heart tightened. The copse was a place of silence.
Captain Marsh was skinning the rabbit when Sophia, who had wandered restlessly away for a while, returned in a rustling rush.
‘They’re coming,’ she breathed.
‘What?’
‘Their car is on the other side. They’re walking this way. He has his arm around her waist.’
‘How charming,’ said Captain Marsh.
‘Charming? What do you mean, charming?’ Sophia’s whisper was edged with alarm and impatience.
‘Well, in a few words you’ve drawn quite a nice picture of them. They’re not on honeymoon, I suppose?’
‘What are you doing, sitting there skinning the rabbit? You must hide – we both must – or it’s all been for nothing.’
‘I am hiding.’ Captain Marsh, sitting with his back against a tree, indicated screening shrubs, thick with glossy leaf. ‘But there’s no need for you to. Why don’t you go and meet them?’
‘You know why, and I’ve gone too far now to turn back.’ Sophia, hating herself, dropped to the ground beside him. ‘And you’ve gone too far to be careless now. They’ll see you. Get down. Look, we must lie flat, close to these bushes.’
He moved, and they lay flat.
They heard a rustle of sound then. They slightly lifted their heads and peered through gaps in the leaves. They glimpsed the figures of a man and woman in field-grey slowly meandering, passing through light and shadows, the skirts of their coats brushing shrubs. Captain Marsh noted the man did indeed have his arm around the woman. That was his only arm. His left sleeve was empty, and neatly tucked into his coat pocket. He stopped and the woman turned to him, her face flushed beneath the peak of her cap. He bent his head and kissed her. Sophia, recognizing Major Josef Kirsten, drew a silent breath, but relaxed a little as the kiss became prolonged. Major Kirsten, a man she liked, had found consolation for the loss of his arm, and perhaps for the loss of his wife too. Was that why he was in this place, just to enjoy its seclusion in company with the attractive WAC officer? It was a very pleasant haven for lovers.
Captain Marsh did not relax at all. His suspicion was acute, his hand inside his jacket and gripping his revolver. Something tugged at his memory. Madame Gascoigne’s words: The man has only one arm, and a scarred right eye, but his left eye is as sharp as a needle.
They were the same Germans, the same officers, who had been at the auberge and had come so close to discovering him while he was keeping his hostage forcibly quiet in the shadow of that brick wall.
The earth was unsteady beneath Elissa’s feet. Major Kirsten was kissing her. Her blood was racing nervously because of someone who had fired a shot, and riotously because of Major Kirsten. Was kissing really necessary to the act? Could they not have wandered hand in hand, smiling at each other? But whether kissing was necessary or not, participation was a giddy sweetness, despite everything else. His lips were firm on hers, but without being demanding, as if he felt the pretence of courtship was an effort for her. If kisses of pretence rendered her so giddy, she thought, what would it do to her if Major Kirsten kissed her in love?
He released her. Her face was fiery. It perturbed him a little, the realization that because she was so painfully shy, this kind of nonsense was an ordeal to her.
In a light murmur, however, he said, ‘I wonder, was that convincing? Do you feel eyes, Elissa?’
‘I feel giddy,’ confessed Elissa faintly.
‘My deepest apologies,’ he whispered. ‘But give me your hand and smile at me while we romanticize. Look as demure and happy as you would if I were young and handsome and about to propose. Tomorrow you can laugh about it.’
She gave him her hand and a nervous smile. The silence of the copse intruded on her consciousness, and little goose pimples rose. Major Kirsten talked to her about Munich, her birthplace, and told her he had more liking for it now that he knew it was her home. Elissa raised a light laugh at that.
Sophia, lying beside Captain Marsh, observed the uniformed lovers and heard the murmur of their voices. Her body was stiff and tense. Captain Marsh was as still as if he had been sculpted out of stone.
Was Major Kirsten actually proposing to his companion? She looked very flushed.
They were hand in hand, walking slowly towards the group of screening shrubs. Sophia trembled. Captain Marsh put a hand on her arm. His touch agitated her. Wildly, she felt cramp was about to seize her limbs. She heard Major Kirsten’s voice.
‘You must be back at what time, Elissa?’
‘We must leave in fifteen minutes.’ The woman’s voice was a little unsteady, as if she was suffering the nervous excitements of love.
‘It’s been delightful, our time together,’ said Major Kirsten warmly.
‘Yes – lovely – I shan’t like going back a bit,’ said Elissa.
They came on, skirting trees, and cramp took hold of Sophia. Her limbs jerked convulsively, creating a whisper of sound, at which moment Major Kirsten laughed.
‘That squirrel – those antics,’ he said.
‘I see no—’ Elissa stopped as his hand tightened around hers. ‘Oh, yes,’ she said. He had heard the slightest of sounds, as she had, and she knew he had laughed to cover it up and to make a non-existent squirrel his reason. The sound had come from behind a clump of bushes, just to their left. Without a pause, they walked on. But then Major Kirsten stopped, put his arm around her and, in quite audacious fashion, kissed her again. She was far too tense to feel sweetness this time. Apprehension turned her cold, for Major Kirsten had his back to the concealing bushes, his body sheltering hers. If a revolver was being pointed, it was at his back, yet he was kissing her very tenderly.
Sophia’s cramp eased, and she and Captain Marsh lay frozen. There they were, Major Kirsten and the WAC officer, and as close as they had been once before. Sophia almost stopped breathing, and Captain Marsh had his revolver out. Her eyes dilated and she put a hand on the gun, silently begging him not to use it.
Major Kirsten and Elissa broke apart and strolled on. In the way of lovers, they stopped again. He put his arm around her shoulders, and once more they strolled on. They disappeared. Captain Marsh and Sophia did not move or speak. He was dark with suspicion, she pale and tense, toes tightly curled to ward off the cramp.
Love for a Soldier Page 16