Cocooned in the insular world of college, Daisy and Gill happily planned their Christmas holidays and looked forward to the final two terms.
‘I can’t believe we’ve done more than two years here,’ Gill said. ‘It’s flown.’
Daisy nodded. ‘Only two more terms and we’re done.’
‘But the exams come before that, don’t forget.’
‘Oh, you would have to spoil it.’
‘You’ll be all right.’
‘So will you.’
They smiled at each other. Neither of them was conceited, but they both knew that if they were to fail, it didn’t bode well for the rest of their year!
‘And best of all, it’s the year when Aunty Pips and Uncle George will be with us for Christmas and New Year. And I bet Granny will be planning extra celebrations because I couldn’t get home for my twenty-first birthday at the beginning of the month.’
‘We’re not visiting each other this holiday, are we?’
Daisy shook her head. ‘Too much revising to do. And the same goes for the Easter hols.’
Gill pulled a face. ‘Shame, but I know you’re right.’
‘We’ll make up for it in the summer, I promise.’
Gill wagged her finger. ‘I’ll hold you to that.’
Daisy was so busy during the holidays that she failed to notice the serious faces of her older relatives, who did their best to keep unsavoury news from her anyway. And in the Dawson and Nuttall homes, there was a tacit agreement that Luke and Harry should be kept ignorant of the political unrest. Even Bess Cooper kept her mouth firmly shut when the youngsters were around.
‘I’ve never known my mother so quiet about what’s going on,’ Peggy laughed.
‘If all this trouble escalates into war,’ Sam said solemnly, ‘it’ll be our lads that’ll have to go.’
Peggy’s amusement faded and she bit her lip. ‘Couldn’t they get a – what is it called – an exemption because of the work they do?’
‘They might. After all, all their work is allied to agriculture, which was treated as a reserved occupation in the last war, but—’ He hesitated before adding, ‘They might not let both Luke and Harry get exemption.’
‘But they work in different parts of Len’s business, don’t they? Luke’s in the wheelwright’s workshop and Harry’s usually with you in the blacksmith’s.’
‘That’s true, so they might both be all right.’
‘Oh Sam, we’re talking as if it’s really going to happen.’
‘If Hitler tries anything else, Peggy love, I am sorry to say I think it will. Chamberlain sold out Czechoslovakia to him and that was once too often. It caused a revolt amongst some of his own party members.’
‘And what about the trouble in Spain?’
‘I think it’s almost at an end, with Franco victorious.’
Peggy sighed heavily. ‘I don’t understand it all. Why can’t we all just live in peace, Sam? After all those poor boys we lost last time, why won’t they learn?’
Sam put his arms around her and she leaned against his shoulder. ‘It’s all about gaining power. Look at Franco in Spain. All three of them – Franco, Mussolini and now Hitler – are hell-bent on becoming all-powerful dictators.’
In January, Franco’s troops entered Barcelona, and by the end of February even the British Government recognized his possession of the greater part of Spain, which brought more disagreement in the House of Commons. When the President of Republican Spain resigned at the beginning of March, Franco’s final victory seemed inevitable. But the greatest threat still came from Germany.
‘We are now making four hundred aircraft a month for the RAF, but that’s still only two thirds of what Germany are producing,’ Pips told her family solemnly on a visit in March.
‘It certainly looks as if they’re up to something, doesn’t it? Any other signs that we’re starting to get prepared, Pips?’
‘Air-raid shelters are being distributed to households in London in areas they think will be the most likely to be targeted. And there are discussions about the evacuation of children from cities, if hostilities should break out.’
‘And does George really think they’re likely to?’ Edwin asked.
Pips drew breath, glanced around the table at her parents and Robert and Alice, knowing that what she now had to tell them would be devastating news. ‘It will be in the papers tomorrow, but George said I could tell you this now. Hitler has marched into Prague.’
Four pairs of anxious eyes stared at her.
‘I knew it,’ Robert murmured. ‘I thought all his posturing and promises that Germany had no more claims in Europe was a lie. Chamberlain should never have trusted him.’
‘He meant well, Robert,’ Pips defended the Prime Minister, ‘but now, he’s as shocked as the rest of us. He told the House that this is the first time that Hitler has occupied territory that is not inhabited by Germans.’
‘So this time, you mean, there’s no excuse for his occupation?’
‘None.’
‘I’m very much afraid, my dears,’ Edwin said, twirling his wineglass between fingers that were not quite steady, ‘that this might very well escalate into war.’ He glanced at Pips. ‘Has George – or Matthew – been able to tell you if the Government are planning any kind of pledge to other countries should they be attacked?’ He shrugged and suggested, ‘Like Poland, for example, or France? He seems to be intent on marching into the countries which border Germany.’
‘Not in so many words, no, but like you he thinks the situation is very serious.’
‘I expect they would bring in conscription a lot earlier than they did last time,’ Alice said quietly. Her voice trembled as she asked, ‘Will Luke and Harry be called up, d’you think? And – and what about Daisy? She’d be expected to do some sort of war work, wouldn’t she?’
‘When she finishes college in the summer,’ Henrietta said firmly, ‘she will be employed here on the estate and that will surely be regarded as important war work. The production of food will be paramount, if I’m not mistaken.’
‘Quite right, Mother,’ Robert said. ‘Daisy will be fine and so will her friend Gill, but about Luke and Harry, well, I’m not so sure.’
At the end of March, Britain and France pledged to defend Poland against attack and by the middle of April, when Mussolini had occupied Albania, the British Prime Minister gave an assurance that Britain would go to the aid of Greece and Romania. France again gave its promise too. A few days later, Chamberlain also pledged to go to the aid of Holland, Denmark and Switzerland if they were attacked.
At the end of April, the British Government brought in the conscription of men aged twenty to twenty-two for military service.
‘I won’t allow it. I won’t let Luke go!’ Len shouted, jabbing at the newspaper and glaring at his wife as if it was all her fault.
‘You’ve changed your tune since last time,’ Norah said boldly. ‘Learned ya lesson, ’ave ya?’
‘That was different,’ he growled. ‘They didn’t bring in conscription until much later in the last war. The lads went of their own accord. Volunteered like the brave men they were. But I won’t have any government telling my grandson what to do.’
‘He’s twenty-three. It’s not him they’re talking about, and Harry’s too young.’
‘I aren’t bothered about Harry. He’s not mine.’
Norah said no more. Although Harry was not a blood relative, she’d always thought of him as another grandson.
And then her thoughts turned to the other two young men, who really were her grandsons: Pascal and Waldo. Would Belgium be attacked again this time? What would happen to them and would she ever see her son, William, again?
Whilst Britain quietly prepared, Germany and Italy signed a ‘Pact of Steel’ in May, a political and military alliance.
‘We have agreements with France,’ George told the Maitlands on a brief visit to Lincolnshire with Pips, ‘but our approach to Russia doesn’t seem to be meeting with enthusiasm. We suspect Stalin is seeking a closer alliance with Germany.’
‘Really? That surprises me,’ Robert said.
‘Stalin’s a bit of an unknown quantity at the moment.’
‘Well, with the size of his country, I’d rather he was on our side.’
‘Don’t we all.’ George’s reply was heartfelt.