Page 116 of The Gathering Storm

‘Yes, everyone else comes tomorrow. I wanted to make sure everything was all right before they descend on you.’

‘I was half expecting to see elephants and camels in special loose boxes, and clowns leaning out of the windows.’

‘It’s a film company, not a circus,’ he reminded her.

‘I know, but I’m so excited, my mind keeps giving me circus images. Will we have to meet them from the train?’

‘No, Dorothy Fitch will have arranged transport. You’re not to worry about anything – she’s tremendously efficient. Just enjoy the ride.’

‘I will. Let’s go – where’s your luggage?’

The car was parked outside. ‘That’s a big beast,’ Lennie remarked. ‘Is it new?’ It was a Vauxhall GY saloon in maroon-and-black.

‘I got it last year,’ she said. ‘I wanted something with plenty of room. It’s got a big engine – pulls like a lorry up hills.’ There were three dogs in the back, jostling to hang their heads out of the window. He could see what looked like a forest of waving tails. ‘You don’t mind them, do you? They insisted on coming. They never go in front so those seats are quite clean.’

He laughed. ‘It wouldn’t be a real Morland Place welcome without dogs,’ he said.

The luggage stowed, they settled in and she drove off. There was a little silence, but she was concentrating on the traffic and getting out of the station yard onto Queen Street. Her gloved hands on the wheel looked strong; her bare arms, between the cuff of the gloves and the sleeves of her dress, were brown. ‘Everyone’s terribly excited about this whole thing,’ she said at last.

‘It’s very good of you to let the company come,’ he said.

‘Good of me? They’re paying me a fortune!’

‘I’m sure it’s not a fortune.’

‘Maybe not to an American, but it seems one to me, especially as I don’t have to do anything for it.’

‘Dorothy will make sure there’s no damage,’ he said, ‘and I’ll keep an eye on things too.’

‘I had the estate carpenter look at the drawbridge, and John – you know, Robbie’s son? He works in the motor trade – John found a mechanic to check the machinery. It was funny, really, virtually every male in the house, plus the grooms from the stables, found an excuse to be in the yard that day. Men are so fascinated by anything mechanical! Anyway, it was all in surprisingly good order, just needed oiling and a bit of tightening up here and there. But you know, don’t you, that it doesn’t just drop down? It descends quite slowly. The script you sent me – thanks for that, by the way – seems to have people dashing across seconds after the order’s given.’

‘Don’t worry about that,’ Lennie said. ‘You can do anything with cameras. They’ll just cut from starting to lower it to the dashing part. You’ll never know from the finished film how long it took.’ They were out on Blossom Street now, and the traffic moved freely. He took a breath. ‘Polly—’

She anticipated him. ‘I never heard from you for months, years. I was so hurt. You were supposed to come and visit, and then you weren’t coming, and then – silence.’

‘You came to New York on the Queen Mary, and never told me you were coming. I could have flown across to meet you there if you’d told me. So I supposed you didn’t want to see me.’

‘I thought you didn’t want to see me.’

‘I’ve never changed the way I feel about you,’ he said, and managed to stop there.

‘Oh,’ she said. ‘It seems we’ve been at cross purposes.’

‘It does. I was so glad you said yes to ABO’s proposal. I thought you’d forgiven whatever it was I’d done and we could make a fresh start.’

And, to his immense relief, she laughed. ‘Oh dear, how silly and awkward it sounds now – positively childish! And what a waste of time it all was!’ She glanced at him. ‘Now I’m actually with you, I can’t imagine how I could ever have supposed—’

‘Me too,’ he said.

‘Can we forget it ever happened, and pretend we’re just the same as when we last met?’

‘Okay by me.’

‘“Okay by me”. You’re very American. I forget. I always think of you as being English.’

‘It will wear off,’ he said. ‘By the time I’ve been here a week I’ll sound as English as you.’

There was another little pause, as Polly thought, Only a week! His life is in America. He’ll go back. I mustn’t get too comfortable with him. She cast about for something to say. ‘Jessie and Bertie are coming to dinner tonight, and the children. They can’t wait to see you. Jessie’s particularly glad that you’re hiring horses from her, though of course any pleasure is tinged with anxiety, because they’re all her babies. She worries that you may make them fall over, the way they do in cowboy films.’