Page 84 of An Invitation to the Kennedys

‘Yes, that much was rather obvious.From where?’

‘The stables.’

‘The piebald …?’Honor asked, bemused.Then, ‘Oh.No.Albert?’

‘Yes.’Doris looked straight at her.She was refusing, Honor saw, to be abashed in any way.‘Albert.’

‘But why?’

‘Only you would ask that,’ Doris said, amused.‘There are a thousand women I could tell that to, and they would simply smirk and say “Yes, I see …”’ She laughed.‘I tell you, and you blurt out “But why?”.However, you are correct.There is a why.’

‘Which is?’

‘I wonder how much to tell you.’She glanced away, across the lawns, towards the river which could be heard, swollen and greedy, running over the new ground it had claimed.

‘Everything.Tell me everything.’

‘Not everything, darling.It isn’t possible.But I will tell you some.What I may.Are you sure we will not be interrupted?’

‘Perfectly certain.Nearly everyone is gone, thank goodness.Elizabeth will not surface for hours.Maureen and Duff seem to have their own matters to attend to …’

‘Yes, I rather thought that last night … Well, alright then.The truth is, darling, much as I love you, I am not here entirely to see you.Yet again, all unknowing, Chips has done me a service.’She grinned.‘You know a little of why I am in Berlin?’She lowered her voice and looked around, a quick, nervous glance that was, Honor thought, quite unlike her.

‘I know what you have told me, which is very little, and what I have understood, which is a little more.’

‘I am a reporter.’

‘I have seen your articles in theExpress.Approving accounts of race meetings and sporting events.’

‘Exactly.I go about.I meet people.I have the very gayest of times.And I watch.I listen.I remember.’

‘You were always good at that.’

‘And when the time comes, I repeat what I have seen and heard and observed to people who have more pieces of the puzzle than I.Who know what to do with the information I gather.’

‘How glamorous you are.’

‘I’m not.I am often scared and maybe useless.Certainly I am very low in any chain of importance.I have little faith in what I do, and less all the time – perhaps what I pass on has no value at all?– but it is the best I can do, and I suppose that is something.’

‘Maybe glamorous is not the right word.Brave, then.It sounds dangerous.’

‘It is.But not as dangerous as what others do.’She paused, and silence fell between them.A swallow dipped to the surface of the pool, angling its wings sharply, then turned and soared.‘Recently it has become more clear that there are some Germans who no longer support the Nazis.They believe Hitler to be a danger and would be happy to see him gone, if there were a way for that to happen that would be fairly painless.There are enough of them, but they aren’t united.Mostly they mistrust one another.They each have their own reasons, their own gripes and demands, their own views of what should replace him.But we believe—’

‘Who is “we”?’

‘Better you don’t know that.Actually,’ Doris laughed, ‘I hardly know myself.There are many.’

‘Go on.’

‘We believe that if all of these different strands could be woven together and persuaded to adopt one plan of action, they could put aside their differences and turn their discontent into action.If they have a purpose, they will make a plan.And so we try, discreetly, to help the making of that one plan.’

‘Which is?’

‘That’s where it gets complicated.In order to have one plan, apparently we need to consider many different plans.One is Fritzi.’

‘Him?’

‘I know.It does seem … Well, you know him; so you know what it seems.But after all, he has the name, he has the background.He is known, but not too well known.He offers the reassurance of familiarity, along with the promise of something new.There is a chance that he might be the very person behind whom others can unite.’