‘I thought I heard someone . . .’ Tremulously, she added, ‘What is it, Master Perys? Have you had news of Martin?’
Suddenly, Polly appeared behind her and her fear was apparent. It would have been cruel to keep either woman in suspense for any longer than was necessary.
‘Yes . . . and it’s good news. I’ve just had a telephone call from the War Office. Martin is alive and well. He’s been taken prisoner by the Germans, but he’s safe and uninjured. You have no need to worry about him any more. As far as he is concerned, his war is over.’
Harriet turned to Polly, but the Heligan housemaid pushed past her and confronted Perys anxiously. ‘Are you quite sure? There can be no mistake?’
‘None at all, Polly. The telephone call came to Heligan and I hurried straight here. Martin is in a transit prisoner-of-war camp in France right now but in a day or two he’ll be transferred to a permanent camp, probably in Germany. When he arrives there you’ll have official notification giving you an address where you can write to him - and he’ll be able to write to you.’
A variety of conflicting expressions fought for supremacy on Polly’s face, then, suddenly, she flung herself at him and between tears cried, ‘Thank you, Perys . . . Oh, thank you!’
‘It’s all right, Polly,’ he said, in a bid to comfort her. ‘Believe me, I am almost as delighted as you at the news. I couldn’t wait to get here to let you know.’
Breaking away from him, Polly ran to Harriet and the two women clung to each other, tears of joy and relief running unchecked down their cheeks.
Chapter 64
Perys left the two women debating which of them should run down the valley to the field where Walter Bray was working to break the good news to him.
He was taking a short cut across the fields to Heligan when the cottages of Polly and Annie came into view, standing side-by-side at the edge of a small wood. He realised that Annie too must be very upset about her brother. He decided he would call in and break the good news to her before returning to Heligan.
When he reached the cottages he stopped, uncertain which of them was Annie’s. While he was trying to make up his mind, one of the doors opened and Annie herself stood in the doorway.
‘Perys! What are you doing here? Do you have some news of Martin . . . ?’ Her expression was one of fear, as that of her mother had been.
‘It’s all right, Annie, he’s been taken prisoner by the Germans, but he’s safe and well.’
‘Oh! Oh, thank God! I have been so worried about him.’
She put out a hand to support herself against the door frame. She appeared so shaken that Perys moved closer. Concerned, he asked anxiously, ‘Are you all right, Annie?’
‘Yes . . . Yes. It’s just . . . I’ve been trying not to think the worst, these last couple of days, yet whatever I did, I’ve been unable to think anything else.’ Trying valiantly to fight back tears, she asked, ‘Do Ma and Polly know?’
‘Yes, I’ve just come from Tregassick.’
‘I’ll go there to see them in a few minutes.’ Gesturing towards the cottage she had just left she said, ‘This is Martin and Polly’s place. I live next door but found it so difficult to settle down to anything I came in here to tidy up. Polly hasn’t been home since she heard.’
A stray thought came to Annie and she asked, ‘How did you find out about Martin before Polly did?’
‘I made a few telephone calls, to France and also to the War Office in London. Someone from there telephoned me back a short while ago and I went straight to Tregassick. I was on my way back to Heligan when I realised that you would be concerned about Martin too.’
‘That was very thoughtful of you, Perys. It really is wonderful news. I . . . I . . .’ Suddenly, Annie began to cry. She reached inside one of her sleeves, apparently seeking a handkerchief.
When she failed to find one, Perys pulled one from a pocket and stepped forward to give it to her. ‘Here!’
Taking it from him she held it up to her eyes, saying, ‘I’m sorry, Perys. I. . . I just didn’t realise what a strain it has been, worrying about Martin.’
‘There is no need to apologise to me, Annie. I was very concerned about him myself.’
She looked up at him as he stood close. Their eyes met - and they held the glance. Perys experienced the same feeling that had come over him more than three years before, when they had fallen off Rupert’s motor-cycle together.
He responded to it now as he had then. Taking a step forward he put his arms about Annie and kissed her.
He was never certain afterwards whether or not she responded initially. If she did, it did not last for long. Suddenly she began struggling against him. When he failed to release her immediately her struggles became more violent until she eventually broke free.
Pushing him away, she said angrily, ‘What do you think you are doing, Perys? Why did you do that?’
‘Why? I thought . . .’ He broke off, lamely. There was nothing he might say that would justify what he had just done, but he tried. ‘ . . . I suddenly remembered the time when we fell off the motor-bike together . . .’
‘That was different. Very different. I wasn’t a married woman then.’ Still angry, she added, ‘ Was that why you did it - or was it because you thought I’d be so grateful for what you’d told me about Martin that I’d behave as Eliza would? Perhaps Pa wasn’t so very wrong about what he thought he saw you and her doing!’
‘That isn’t fair, Annie - ’
‘Fair? Is it fair to kiss a married woman in the hope that she’ll show some gratitude for receiving news that her brother is alive? Is it?’
Annie’s rage was so fierce and unexpected it dismayed Perys, but she had not finished with him yet.
‘Quite apart from your lack of respect for me, it doesn’t say much for the respect you have for the girl you are going to marry . . . Grace, isn’t it?’
Perys realised she knew nothing of what had happened to Grace.
‘What would she say if she knew what you had just done? What would you do if I was to tell her?’
Perys looked at Annie in silence for a few moments before saying, quietly, ‘I only wish you were able to tell her, Annie. You see, she was reported missing last year when the hospital ship on which she was serving was torpedoed. Unlike Martin, she was never found.’
Turning away, he hurried off in the direction of Heligan before Annie could see how distressed he was - by everything.
Watching him walking away from her, Annie was almost equally upset. She realised her reaction to his kiss had been out of all proportion to the deed. She was aware also that her anger was directed as much against herself as at Perys. When he had held her she too had remembered the time they fell off the motorcycle together.
And as on that occasion, she had wanted Perys to kiss her. Her anger had stemmed from her own sense of guilt and confusion.
Turning, she ran back inside Polly’s house. She would not be able to face Jimmy just yet, and knew she would need to compose herself before her mother came to tell her about Martin, as she surely would.
* * *
The following morning Polly called at the cottage to put on her maid’s uniform and tell Annie she was returning to work at Heligan. She still looked pale and wan after the trauma of the past few days, but was happy in the knowledge that Martin was safe, albeit a prisoner of the Germans.
‘I want to thank Perys properly too, for finding out about Martin so quickly,’ she said. ‘Fancy him telephoning all the way to France and London to ask about him. If it hadn’t been for Perys we probably wouldn’t have heard anything for weeks - and I could have been dead from a broken heart by then. Your ma said Perys even called here to tell you the good news before he went back to Heligan last night.’
‘That’s right, he caught me here when I’d just finished tidying up your place. I’m afraid I didn’t quite appreciate how much trouble he’d put himself to in finding out about Martin.’
‘He thinks a lot of Martin,’ Polly said. She was in a happy, chatting mood today. ‘He always has, when I come to think about it, right from the day when he stood up for him against Master Edward. Perys says Martin is probably the best observer he has ever had - and certainly the best gunner. Martin thinks a lot of Perys, too. He says he’s one of the best pilots in the whole of the Royal Flying Corps. Mind you, Martin says that because Perys is always in the thick of the fighting, he would never be surprised if he heard one day that Perys had been shot down.’
Polly was retying a shoelace as she was speaking and never saw the distress her words caused to Annie. Her task completed, she stood up. ‘If I’m perfectly honest, Annie, although I don’t like to think of Martin being locked up in a prisoner-of-war camp, I’m glad he’s out of the fighting. Ever since he went back to France, after we were married, I’d wake every morning dreading that I’d get the telegram that came on Monday . . . But I’d better be getting off to work now there’s no longer a reason for me to stay home.’
Later that day, Annie took Jimmy to Tregassick. He was now able to carry out certain tasks about the farm. He could milk the cows once they had been brought in, help with making cheese, and feed the chickens, geese and some of the other animals. He was also able to sharpen many of the tools in use on the farm.
He seemed to enjoy making a contribution, but when his mother came visiting she complained bitterly that the Brays were taking advantage of her son’s disabilities and using him as ‘cheap labour’.
However, Winnie Rowe was not at the farm today and all went well. Annie and Jimmy remained there all day, and were still there that evening when Polly came to the farm for supper. She had finished work at Heligan early, the usually stern housekeeper sending her home because she looked ‘wisht’.
Not unnaturally, much of the conversation was of Martin, his family wondering what he was doing at the very moment they sat down for a meal together.
It was Annie who suddenly came up with an idea, as though it had just occurred to her. ‘I know, why don’t we invite Perys to come and have a meal here with us? He’s seen far more of Martin than we have during the war years. He’d be able to tell us at first hand something of Martin’s life in the Flying Corps, and what he’s likely to be doing in the prisoner-of-war camp.’
‘Invite one of the squire’s family here to Tregassick to eat with us?’ Walter Bray looked at his daughter in disbelief. ‘What are you thinking of, girl?’
‘You’re living in the past, Pa. The war has changed things. Perys has already been to the house to eat with us - the last time was after he’d been Martin’s best man. I’m sure he’d love to come. He’d certainly enjoy it much more than eating on his own up at the big house.’
‘It doesn’t really make any difference whether or not he’d like to come here,’ said Polly. ‘He’s not at Heligan anymore. He left this morning, saying it was time he got back to his squadron in France. I doubt if we’ll see him at Heligan until the war’s over - if we see him then. He’ll have no reason to come.’
Of those sitting around the table, only Harriet saw the look of dismay that crossed Annie’s face for a fleeting moment. She shifted her glance to Jimmy, who was spooning food into his mouth, seemingly oblivious of the conversation being carried on about him.
Harriet thought of all that had occurred after the first visit of Perys to Heligan. She would not have wished upon Annie the life she now had but felt it might have become far more complicated for everyone around the table had Perys chosen to remain in Cornwall for a while instead of returning to his squadron.
Chapter 65
Perys was a confused and unhappy man when he rode away from Heligan. He accepted that his behaviour towards Annie had been unforgivable. She was a married woman and she had a husband who had been blinded and disabled in the service of his country.
But he was also confused about his feelings when he was holding Annie. He had believed himself to be in love with Grace. Had she lived they would have married, and he was convinced they would have been very, very happy.
Yet when he held Annie outside Polly’s cottage he felt an emotion he had known only once before - when he had kissed her all those years ago.
For a moment the previous evening he had imagined Annie might have felt the same way, but she had made it very clear that this was not so.
Perhaps it was fortunate for both of them. Had she shown him the slightest encouragement they would have become involved in an affair that would ultimately have destroyed their respect for each other.
By the time Perys arrived at the Central Flying School, he had made up his mind to put the incident - and Annie - behind him once and for all, and to concentrate on the thing he did best - flying a fighter plane in combat against the Germans.
He had hoped the Central Flying School might have had an aeroplane for him to fly to St Omer, but he was out of luck. He was issued with a travel warrant to return to France by train and ferry.
After depositing his motor-cycle at Aunt Maude’s London home and spending a night there, he made his way to Victoria station to catch the afternoon train to Dover. From there he would board the night ferry to Boulogne. It was likely to be a cold crossing. Snow was falling in London and the sky gave every indication of more to come.
The train was already standing at the platform and he settled himself in a first-class compartment with only two elderly nuns as his travelling companions.
The whistle had just sounded for the train to move off when Perys heard the sound of running feet on the platform. The next moment, the door was thrown open by an officer wearing the uniform of a lieutenant colonel in the Royal Artillery.
Sliding a suitcase inside the compartment, he held the door open to allow a young woman to scramble inside. Then, as the train jerked into motion, the door was slammed shut behind her.
Ignoring the disapproving looks of the nuns, the young woman opened the window and, as the train gathered speed, blew kisses to the artillery officer and waved until the rails curved away from the platform and the station disappeared from view. Then she tried to close the window, but she had problems with the leather strap with which it was pulled up. Perys went to her rescue and by the time he succeeded in closing the window she had sat down opposite the seat he was occupying.