than usual. Monika sat by the open window sewing.
‘Hullo, darling.’ I never call her darling, thought Helena, feeling embarrassed. ‘Hullo, Sophy, I’ve come home. How are you?’
Sophy did not answer; her eyes looked at some point other than Helena.
‘While I was in London I bought that puppy and I bought you a lot of clothes, too.’ No response. Helena looked at Monika, who smiled encouragingly and pointed at a chair near the bed. Helena sat.
‘Polly’s got a war job and Calypso is looking for one. Walter is joining the Navy, the twins the Air Force. Oliver has got into the Army, in the ranks, he doesn’t want to be an officer.’ The child lay limp, eyes unblinking, disconcerting. Helena felt her sense of exasperation rise. Why couldn’t the child answer? She looked at Monika for comfort.
‘Aunt Sarah and I thought you might like to go away to school, so I went and saw Polly’s old school near Cambridge. I think you will like it.’ Monika nodded approval. ‘There will be children of your age, games, and so on. Polly says you can stay with her on your way through London. What’s that noise?’ Monika was looking out of the window.
‘Police,’ said Monika Erstweiler. ‘Police.’
‘Oh, yes.’ Helena dropped her voice to a whisper, which Sophy heard perfectly but Monika not, since she was leaning out of the window. ‘I hear there was an accident to a coastguard, so unfortunate.’
‘For us.’ Monika turned back into the room, white-faced. ‘Not the coastguard,’ she said. ‘Your kind brother-in-law warned us. We are to be interned. We are enemy aliens.’
‘How totally absurd,’ said Helena, speaking loudly from anger.
‘I must find my husband.’ Monika came close to Sophy. ‘Be brave, my child.’ She bent and kissed her. ‘These are English police not the Gestapo.’
Sophy sat up abruptly. ‘We will get you out, write to our Member of Parliament, write to The Times.’ She scrambled out of bed. Helena and Monika, taken aback by this adult attitude, began to laugh.
‘Sophy, I love you.’ Monika put her arms round Sophy and hugged her.
It would make my life easier if I did, thought Helena, watching them.
‘Uncle Richard can write the letters.’ Sophy had run down the stairs calling loudly, ‘Uncle Richard, Uncle Richard, please!’
‘And he did write,’ said Helena to her driver. ‘He wrote to The Times, to all the Members of Parliament he could think of, he became very passionate about it.’
‘About what?’ Her driver overtook a large lorry, causing Helena to wince.
‘About the wrong aliens getting interned.’
‘Like Arthur Koestler?’
‘Yes. He was well known, but the Erstweilers were hardly known in those days. He wrote to Calypso’s husband, got him interested. He was quite helpful, very helpful really.’
‘My father?’
‘I’m sorry, I’d forgotten for a moment that Calypso is your mother.’
‘That’s quite all right.’
‘It gave Richard something to do, made him forget his leg.’
‘What was wrong with it?’
‘He lost it in Flanders.’
‘Wouldn’t have stopped him writing, surely?’
‘It didn’t. The injustice gave him a lift.’
‘Did he get them out?’
‘Yes, eventually.’
‘Then he remembered his leg.’ Helena’s driver considered himself a student of psychology.
‘Yes, yes, he did.’ Helena sighed. ‘He remembered the bloody thing.’
Helena’s driver, Calypso’s son, raised his eyebrows. In his book middle-class old ladies did not swear, not in their eighties.
‘Of course, looking back, being among the first to be interned was a great help to Max.’
‘How was that?’
‘His name became familiar in the papers, favourably compared with Furtwängler who had stayed in Germany. He wasn’t Jewish, of course, like Max, and very pro-Hitler. Monika and Max were released just when all the others were gathered in. He got a head start professionally.’
‘Became famous in this country.’
‘I’ve
‘Hullo, darling.’ I never call her darling, thought Helena, feeling embarrassed. ‘Hullo, Sophy, I’ve come home. How are you?’
Sophy did not answer; her eyes looked at some point other than Helena.
‘While I was in London I bought that puppy and I bought you a lot of clothes, too.’ No response. Helena looked at Monika, who smiled encouragingly and pointed at a chair near the bed. Helena sat.
‘Polly’s got a war job and Calypso is looking for one. Walter is joining the Navy, the twins the Air Force. Oliver has got into the Army, in the ranks, he doesn’t want to be an officer.’ The child lay limp, eyes unblinking, disconcerting. Helena felt her sense of exasperation rise. Why couldn’t the child answer? She looked at Monika for comfort.
‘Aunt Sarah and I thought you might like to go away to school, so I went and saw Polly’s old school near Cambridge. I think you will like it.’ Monika nodded approval. ‘There will be children of your age, games, and so on. Polly says you can stay with her on your way through London. What’s that noise?’ Monika was looking out of the window.
‘Police,’ said Monika Erstweiler. ‘Police.’
‘Oh, yes.’ Helena dropped her voice to a whisper, which Sophy heard perfectly but Monika not, since she was leaning out of the window. ‘I hear there was an accident to a coastguard, so unfortunate.’
‘For us.’ Monika turned back into the room, white-faced. ‘Not the coastguard,’ she said. ‘Your kind brother-in-law warned us. We are to be interned. We are enemy aliens.’
‘How totally absurd,’ said Helena, speaking loudly from anger.
‘I must find my husband.’ Monika came close to Sophy. ‘Be brave, my child.’ She bent and kissed her. ‘These are English police not the Gestapo.’
Sophy sat up abruptly. ‘We will get you out, write to our Member of Parliament, write to The Times.’ She scrambled out of bed. Helena and Monika, taken aback by this adult attitude, began to laugh.
‘Sophy, I love you.’ Monika put her arms round Sophy and hugged her.
It would make my life easier if I did, thought Helena, watching them.
‘Uncle Richard can write the letters.’ Sophy had run down the stairs calling loudly, ‘Uncle Richard, Uncle Richard, please!’
‘And he did write,’ said Helena to her driver. ‘He wrote to The Times, to all the Members of Parliament he could think of, he became very passionate about it.’
‘About what?’ Her driver overtook a large lorry, causing Helena to wince.
‘About the wrong aliens getting interned.’
‘Like Arthur Koestler?’
‘Yes. He was well known, but the Erstweilers were hardly known in those days. He wrote to Calypso’s husband, got him interested. He was quite helpful, very helpful really.’
‘My father?’
‘I’m sorry, I’d forgotten for a moment that Calypso is your mother.’
‘That’s quite all right.’
‘It gave Richard something to do, made him forget his leg.’
‘What was wrong with it?’
‘He lost it in Flanders.’
‘Wouldn’t have stopped him writing, surely?’
‘It didn’t. The injustice gave him a lift.’
‘Did he get them out?’
‘Yes, eventually.’
‘Then he remembered his leg.’ Helena’s driver considered himself a student of psychology.
‘Yes, yes, he did.’ Helena sighed. ‘He remembered the bloody thing.’
Helena’s driver, Calypso’s son, raised his eyebrows. In his book middle-class old ladies did not swear, not in their eighties.
‘Of course, looking back, being among the first to be interned was a great help to Max.’
‘How was that?’
‘His name became familiar in the papers, favourably compared with Furtwängler who had stayed in Germany. He wasn’t Jewish, of course, like Max, and very pro-Hitler. Monika and Max were released just when all the others were gathered in. He got a head start professionally.’
‘Became famous in this country.’
‘I’ve
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