April, 1932–January, 1933
Lime Street Chapel, Liverpool
Ben Whitecross looked over the congregation in the small room. The place was packed. Officials and bishops from the Methodist Church in England sat in the front row. His wife and two sons were right behind them, seated next to Lord and Lady Preston. At the back, with all their children, sat Jeremy and Emma and Kipp and Caroline. People Ben had been caring for the entire two years he’d been at Lime Street Chapel were watching him closely, eyes fixed on his face and the small movements of his hands. He turned a page of the large Bible that lay open on the pulpit in front of him.
“I suppose I have an adventurous spirit,” Ben said. “God uses that. He certainly used it in the life of the apostle Paul. Paul wanted to go everywhere with the gospel, including Europe, Spain, and Asia. My text today is from his words in his second letter to the Corinthians: ‘To preach the gospel in the regions beyond you, and not to boast in another man’s line of things made ready to our hand.’ I’ve loved being among you here. The Lord has fulfilled a dream I kept hidden for years—to minister to people in His name. Up until now, I’ve worked with horses and flown airplanes and been blessed with marriage and children. I could successfully argue that my entire life has been a blessing. Coming to the pulpit was one way of thanking God. Going to East Africa, to Kenya specifically, is another. Christians have been serving there for a century, but many places remain untouched. Many live and die and pass into eternity without hearing about the God of love and His Son, Jesus Christ. So that’s where I need to go. Regions beyond that need someone to preach, to pray, and to fly in medical supplies and Bibles. With the gracious support of the Methodist Missionary Society, your tithes and offerings, and the help of my family and our own resources, I’m on my way to Kenya in a fortnight. My wife and children will join me at the end of the year once I have everything prepared. I praise God for the opportunity to take His light and His love to the African people. It will be the grandest adventure of what has already been a very grand life.”
The Methodist officials got up and gathered around Ben. They prayed over him.
Lord Preston nudged his daughter Victoria. “Isn’t this something, my dear?” he whispered. “Who would have guessed it? Ben Whitecross VC a missionary to Africa. You must be very proud. One accomplishment follows another accomplishment in his life. And they said he would never walk again after that airplane crash. But no, one adventure comes swiftly on the heels of another with him.”
Victoria stared straight ahead at the bishop who had placed his hands on her husband’s bowed head. “Ben Whitecross’s adventures will be the death of me, Father,” she replied without whispering or keeping her voice low.
Tubingen, Germany
“Baron?” Catherine opened the door and smiled. “What brings you to the house on such a fine summer day? I thought you’d be out on a long nature hike with Eva.”
“She’s on some sort of outing with a few of her friends.” The baron’s face was etched in sharp lines and tense. “I must see Albrecht right away. Is he at home?”
“Of course. Is everything all right?”
“The election results are official. Herr Hitler won two hundred and thirty seats. He now has the largest party in the government.”
“Oh no!” She stepped aside. “Please go directly to his study.”
“Danke. I apologize, Catherine.”
“For Hitler? It is certainly not your fault, Baron. Please come in. Albrecht will want to discuss this news with you.”
The baron found him behind his desk, hair uncombed, a day’s growth of beard showing on his face. Papers and books were stacked higher than his head.
Albrecht looked up from the pad he was writing on. “Ah, Gerard. What brings you here? You know, you were right after all. We should have fled to Pura or the Rhine instead of remaining in Tubingen for July and August. What was I thinking? All because of this new book the publishers are hounding me for after the success of Mein Krieg and Mein Geist—”
The baron interrupted him. “Have you listened to the news?”
“The news? No, I haven’t had the time. I’ve been chained to this desk since six this morning.”
“The votes have been officially counted.”
Albrecht took off his reading glasses. “What has happened?”
“The Nazis now have the greatest number of seats in the Reichstag.”
“Impossible!”
“Hitler’s star is rising. Now he is demanding that von Hindenburg make him chancellor.”
“Will von Hindenburg do it?”
“Today? No. He detests Hitler. Next week, next month? Who knows?”
“We must act.”
The baron took a seat and removed his hat, a fedora with a feather in its band. “A meeting has been called for this evening at Schultz’s home. We’ve already set a number of things in motion. It remains to determine the right place and time. There will be several target shooters in place at whatever outdoor location is selected. A grenade will also be thrown, possibly two. However we don’t want any bystanders injured or killed. Only Nazi Party members.”
“Perhaps Goebbels or Himmler can be eliminated at the same time.”
“If those sycophants are standing close to him, yes.”
Albrecht lifted a piece of paper on his desk and glanced over it. “I do not do this lightly, Gerard. I am just now writing a chapter on following in the footsteps of the Prince of Peace.”
“Yet our Lord also drove the merchants out of the Jewish temple with a whip.”
“Yes, but He killed no one.”
“Do you wish to halt the assassination attempt?”
“God forgive me, I do not. And I will have to answer to Him for my decision. But what else can be done? The more powerful Hitler gets, the more danger he puts Germany in. When is the meeting?”
“In an hour.”
Albrecht stood up and tugged on the gray blazer that hung on the back of his chair. “We should leave now.”
The baron also got up. He locked the door with the twist of the latch.
Albrecht frowned. “What are you doing? An hour is not a great deal of time to get to Schultz’s villa out in the country.”
“We’re not going there. The Brotherhood is betrayed.”
Albrecht stared at him as if he’d been punched in the stomach. “Betrayed?”
“Yes, betrayed. Hitler’s brownshirts are going to surround Schultz’s villa and burn it to the ground. Whoever escapes will be beaten to death.”
“How do you know this?”
“I have betrayed them. Wegner and I betrayed them.”
“You?” Albrecht moved towards the door. “Don’t spout nonsense, Gerard. If what you say is true, we must phone Schultz and the others immediately.”
The baron thrust a hand against Albrecht’s chest. “There will be no phone calls. Sit down.”
“Are you mad? How else can we reach them in time?”
“We aren’t going to reach them in time. That was the deal I struck with Wegner and Ernst Rohm, the leader of the Sturm Abteilung. The stormtroopers get the Brotherhood, I join the Nazi Party, and you and your wife and children stay alive.”
“What?” Albrecht’s face lost its blood. “I have not agreed to any such terms. Let me by.”
“No.”
The two men struggled, and Albrecht quickly pinned the older man to the wall. The baron quit struggling, and Albrecht stepped back and turned to unlock the door.
The baron struck him from behind with the butt of a luger pistol he’d pulled from his pocket. Albrecht fell to the floor, and the baron pointed the gun at him. “Stay there. Do not attempt to get up. Your wife and children are at risk, man. Think of them. It is open warfare on the streets between the Nazis and the communists. Scores have been killed. Do you think anyone will care about you or me or a dozen more at Schultz’s home?”
With blood running down the side of his head, Albrecht glared up at the baron. “How could you do this? You of all people?”
“Survival. Mine, Eva’s, yours, Catherine’s, Sean’s, Angelika’s. Wegner was an infiltrator from the beginning. Once talk turned to actual plans for assassination, he told me in confidence that the brownshirts had marked all of us for execution. Because of my prominence as a member of the upper class, I was permitted to renounce my affiliation with the Brotherhood and swear allegiance to Adolph Hitler. I did that with the understanding that you and your family would be under my protection and not be harmed. You will not go to the villa to die tonight with the others.”
“Eva will hate you for this.”
“She already knows. Once I explained I was joining the elite of the Nazi Party and not the brownshirts she was in agreement. In fact, she has joined the League of German Girls, the young women part of the Hitler youth. That is where she is today…out of harm’s way.”
Albrecht sprang for the gun, but the baron struck him on the head with it again. The professor fell back against the desk before dropping to the floor.
“Enough of your heroics, Albrecht. Do I have to kill you to save your life and your family?” The baron could see that Albrecht was almost unconscious. Setting down his pistol on a chair by the door, he quickly removed his suit jacket, shirt, and dress pants. Underneath he wore black pants and a brown shirt with a red swastika armband, along with a black tie and black strap that ran across his chest from right shoulder to left hip. “This is in case Rohm forgets about the bargain. I am one of Himmler’s SS, you see. Untouchable, really.” He picked up the Luger again. “We’ll remain here until I receive the phone call that the villa is gone and the Brotherhood finished with.”
“How can you talk that way about our comrades?” groaned Albrecht.
“They were fools mostly, weren’t they? Do you seriously think they could have pulled off the assassination? And even if they had, would that have helped Germany or hindered it? The time for killing Hitler was five years ago. Now he is our future. There is no one else who has his vision. What I am helping you do is imminently practical, Albrecht. We shall have to do away with your books, however. I am sorry for that. There were many good and patriotic chapters.”
“Lord Preston will be furious with you.”
“I expect he will. But he has the luxury of living across the Channel. You and I must make the best of things here. Support Hitler, that is the route to take. And we are taking it.”
“Do you seriously believe Catherine will support this?”
“If she wants you and her children to live, yes. You know what the brownshirts are like, Albrecht. Wild dogs. They will catch you on the street and slaughter you all.”
“Not the children.”
“Oh yes, certainly the children.”
“Even tonight…what you’re allowing at the villa…there will be a storm of protests.”
“There won’t be. Right now large communist cells are being eliminated in Munich and Berlin. The villa will be one small part of the news tomorrow morning. More communists will be killed tonight than the tiny band in the Brotherhood. No, the greater slaughter will get the greater attention. Few will care about what happened to men who were planning to overthrow the government with bombs and bullets. Yes, that is the story that will be given out, my friend.”
“Don’t call me that. Don’t ever call me that again.”
“As you wish, but you have a poor way of thanking someone who kept you from being burned alive and your family shot.”
“They would not have dared kill Catherine and my children.”
“Certainly Rohm would have dared. Hitler already considers you an enemy because of your books.”
“You are everything I have written against that is wrong with our country. You are the bad German who will lead us into more misery.”
For the first time anger cut across the baron’s face. “If there are bad Germans, you can lay the blame at the feet of the British and the French. The Treaty of Versailles was without grace or magnanimity to a fallen foe. It not only spawned Hitler but our need for Hitler. If worse comes to worse in Europe because of Hitler, the blood is on the hands of those who threw the German people in the dirt and ground them down under their heels.”
There was a soft knocking at the door and then it opened. Catherine stuck her head through the opening. “Baron?”
“Yes, Catherine?”
“I’m sorry to interrupt your talk with Albrecht, but there was a phone call for you. The gentleman only wished to leave a message.”
“Ah, yes. What was it?”
“Deutschland uber alles. That’s all he said. Does that mean anything to you? He was a bit of an odd duck.”
“Thank you, Catherine. I agree the man who called is indeed a strange one. But his message makes perfect sense.”
“All right. We’ll see you two in a bit.” She closed the door.
The baron kept his hidden pistol on Albrecht and nodded. “The Brotherhood of the Oak no longer exists.”
“I suppose it gives a man like you pleasure to say that.”
“It gives me no pleasure at all, Albrecht. It was something that had to be done if Germany is to experience a resurrection.”
The motorcycle came to a stop and the rider climbed off.
“I’m looking for Lord Preston.”
Lord Preston was sitting in the shade by the manor and brushing his three Belgian shepherds. “I’m Lord Preston, young man. Do you have a cable for me?”
“Yes, m’lord. It came to us marked highest priority so I was sent up from Dover at once.”
“I see.” Lord Preston got to his feet and took the telegram from the courier.
Lady Preston sat upright on the porch swing. “Is it from Jerusalem? Another baby, I hope.”
“It’s from Germany, my dear.” Lord Preston gave the courier a five-pound note. “Thank you very much indeed.” He watched the courier turn and leave before opening the telegram as the motorcycle roared off.
Lady Preston watched him battle the urge to ball the note in his fist once he’d finished.
“What is wrong, William? Is Catherine all right? Is it the baby?”
“Nothing is all right now. Nothing.”
“Please tell me what the cable says.”
He slowly turned to face her and read it aloud:
LORD PRESTON
THE BARON HAS BETRAYED US. HE PERMITTED STORMTROOPERS TO MURDER THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE OAK WHEN THEY MET LAST WEEK. IN ADDITION HE HAS JOINED THE NAZI PARTY AND IS NOW A HIGH-RANKING OFFICER WITHIN HIMMLER’S SS.
MY FAMILY AND I ARE NOT IN DANGER AS LONG AS I FOLLOW THE NAZI PARTY LINE. FUTURE BOOKS I WRITE CAN ONLY DISCUSS THEOLOGY PROPER NOT THEOLOGY AND POLITICS AND CERTAINLY NOT THEOLOGY AND HITLER. I MUST WATCH WHAT I TEACH AT THE UNIVERSITY IN THE FALL. ALL THIS AND ADOLPH HITLER IS NOT EVEN IN FULL POWER. THERE ARE GRIM DAYS AHEAD FOR GERMANY. THE BARON CLAIMS HE IS OUR PROTECTOR AND SAYS THAT IS WHY NONE OF US WERE HARMED BY THE BROWNSHIRTS. HE SAYS WEGNER WAS A NAZI PLANT IN THE BROTHERHOOD. WE HAVE SEVERED RELATIONS WITH THE BARON AND HIS DAUGHTER. EVA HAS JOINED THE NAZI YOUTH. I AM SORRY I CANNOT SEND YOU BETTER NEWS.
ALBRECHT
Lady Preston left her husband and walked into the manor. Passing Skitt, she asked if he’d seen Jane.
“I believe she’s feeding the swans with Lady Caroline and Lady Holly,” Skitt responded. “Do you wish to speak with her?”
“I do.”
“I shall go down to the pond at once.”
“Send one of the footmen, Skitt.”
He left through the front doors as if she hadn’t spoken. Lady Preston shook her head and carried on up the staircase to her room. Sitting at her reading desk, she pulled a large scrapbook towards her that she’d been working on. The first page had fine gold script across its black surface: Libby’s marriage to Commander Terrence Fordyce, May 24, 1931. She lingered over the black-and-white photographs that followed, especially the ones of the baron posing with her and her husband, ones of Eva linking arms with Jane. For a moment she felt she should remove the pictures. She went to another set of photographs instead.
The gold script read, Robbie and Shannon off to Palestine again with Patricia Claire in October. I long for the day Robbie will be based in England. There were photographs of Robbie and Shannon and their daughter at the dock, and others of the three of them walking up the gangway, looking back at the camera. Several showed them standing on the deck and waving.
“Too far away,” murmured Lady Preston. “You three in Jerusalem. Catherine and Albrecht and Sean and Angelika in Germany. All of you too far away. All of you in danger.”
She put a hand to her face and closed her eyes a moment. She prayed. Then she looked back at the scrapbook and turned pages until she found the picture she wanted. It took up an entire page and was mounted sideways. Tugging it away from the corners that held it in place, she glanced at the families standing on the lawn shoulder to shoulder: Caroline with Cecilia in her arms, Kipp beside her, arm around her waist, Matthew and Charles standing in front of them; Edward and Charlotte to their left, Owen sitting with two-year-old Colm in his lap on the grass; Emma and Jeremy with the twins, Peter and James, and their young son Billy; Victoria, Ben’s arm around her shoulders, Ramsay and Timothy standing at attention and not smiling like everyone else; Catherine and Albrecht holding hands, Sean gripping his mother’s other hand, Albrecht cradling Angelika in his free arm; Libby and Terry with Jane standing between the two of them, beaming, their hands resting on her shoulders; Robbie and Shannon and Patricia Claire at the end of the row, each of their faces darker than anyone else’s, including Terry’s. Behind all of them stood William and herself, as well as Harrison and Holly. At her husband’s feet, unseen by the camera lens, were the three Belgian shepherds—Flanders, Poppy, and Charlemagne. Turning over the photograph she saw her handwriting in India ink: All together in one spot at the same time. Miraculous.
“I hope this happens again soon,” she said out loud. “I don’t know how, but soon, Lord.”
“Grandmum?” Jane stood in the doorway, flushed from running in the summer heat. “Skitt said you wanted to see me and that it was important.”
Lady Preston nodded and smiled. “Indeed, I do wish to speak with you, and yes, it is a matter of some importance, my dear. Please sit down in that chair there.”
Jane took her seat. “Is something wrong? What did I do?”
“You didn’t do anything, my dear Jane. Set your mind at ease about that.”
“Then why do you have such a serious look on your face?”
“Because I have serious news to tell you. We just received a telegram from Germany.”
“Oh…is the baby all right?”
“The baby is fine. It is something else. I want to say first of all that I am sorry, so very sorry, but you may not correspond with Eva von Isenburg anymore.”
“Skitt, may I see you for a moment, please?”
Skitt had just stepped into the manor, humming under his breath, an engagement ring from a pawnshop in Dover in his pocket. Thoughts of meeting Montgomery that night by the pond and what he would say to her dominated his thoughts. He slipped into the small room Holly used as an office and smiled.
“How may I help you, m’lady?” he asked.
“Well, you’re quite chipper, aren’t you? I suppose a day off agrees with most of us. Please have a seat.”
Still smiling, Skitt hitched up his pant legs and placed himself in a chair. “So what’s this about then?”
Holly appeared reluctant to begin, glancing at a ledger open on the desk in front of her and tapping a yellow pencil against her teeth. Finally she turned to face the butler.
“We’ve had an amazing run at Dover Sky, Skitt. Almost ten years we’ve been using it as a year-round home for members of the Danforth family, and you’ve been butler for all of them. You’ve done an extraordinary job.”
“Thank you, m’lady. It’s hard to believe a decade has gone by.”
“Near to it. An astonishing set of years. Marriages, births, the children growing like weeds. I’m sorry to tell you it must now come to an end.”
“What’s that?”
Holly met his gaze without enthusiasm. She turned the pencil around and around in her fingers. “Lord Kipp has purchased a home in London. He’s had enough of only seeing Caroline and the children on weekends. We can’t blame him, can we? It so happens Lord Edward has done the same. I imagine sharing a flat with his father whenever Parliament was in session finally wore thin. Both of them bought places within a few blocks of each other and of Jeremy and Emma, so they’ll have a bit of a village going on amongst themselves.”
“I see.”
“It’s much the same story for Commander Fordyce and Libby. He’s weary of driving from Plymouth and Devonport whenever he has shore leave. He’d much prefer to have his wife and daughter closer to hand. It’s true there are the four months he’s in the Med each winter, but the rest of the time he’s in British waters and would dearly love to be able to pop in and see his loved ones whenever the opportunity presents itself. He’s in the process of securing a house near homeport. He wants Libby and Jane moved in by the time he returns from winter maneuvers in May. Montgomery, naturally, will move with them.”
“Of course.”
Holly half-smiled. “All of this is months away so far as Commander Fordyce and Libby are concerned. It’s only September, and Libby and Jane shall be remaining here for the winter. However at Easter they will move into their new house. Once they’re gone, any reason for Dover Sky to remain open year ’round is gone. Harrison and I will be returning to Ashton Park at summer’s end next year, as will the rest of the staff. Tavy is senior butler at the Lancashire estate. We’d like to keep you on, but I’m afraid the only position available would be senior footman.”
“Footman?”
Holly’s face reddened. “I’m so sorry, Skitt. Both Harrison and Todd Turpin will be handling grounds at Ashton Park, so there’s no opening there, I’m afraid.”
“What about groundskeeper here at Dover Sky?”
“Ah, well, Fairburn is returning.”
“What? Fairburn?”
“His services are no longer required at the estate where he was employed in France. He applied to return here to his former duties at Dover Sky some time ago, and naturally Lord Preston could not refuse.”
Skitt stared at her. “Where does that leave me, Lady Holly?”
“You are a valued family servant, Skitt. We wish to see you employed here through the fall of 1933. Once the families have left and Lord and Lady Preston have completed their summer holiday, you will be released from your duties. Harrison and I shall remain until Fairburn arrives. If you don’t wish to take up a position as senior footman at Ashton Park, perhaps you might wish to serve as assistant chauffeur or in some other capacity.”
“Assistant? I expect I might find that a bit difficult, Lady Holly, after having been my own man for so long, so to speak.”
“I well understand that, Skitt. If you wish to move on to another family, no one will think the worse of you for it. The Danforths will provide excellent references and assist you in finding suitable employment. Good butlers are worth their weight in gold. It would not be long before we found you another family.”
Skitt cleared his throat. “Thank you, but there is the matter of Montgomery. We have reached an understanding, you see.”
“Have you?”
“Well, I hope we have. I expect I shall find out soon enough. Has she been told about her move to Plymouth and Devonport in the spring, do you know?”
“I believe Libby spoke with her this morning.”
“This morning?”
“Yes. Libby was at a loss to explain why Montgomery seemed down at the mouth with the news. What you’ve just told me makes her reaction perfectly understandable. I’m so sorry, Skitt, but there’s no reason to keep Dover Sky open after Easter.”
Skitt’s mood hadn’t improved by the time he made his way to the pond to wait for Montgomery. The moon was a thin slit cut by a silver blade, the stars like the small diamond in his pocket that he had half a mind to toss in the water. The September night was as soft as cashmere, yet his mind was jagged with ruined plans and a bleak future. When he saw Montgomery approaching silently over the lawn, he tried in vain to put a smile on his face and hold it. She took his hands and gazed up at him.
“You look absolutely shattered, love,” she said. “It’s good to see that.”
“I should have felt devastated to come down here and find you dancing a jig what with the news. I felt horrible this morning after Libby spoke to me. She was puzzled for I’m no better at hiding my emotions than you are. I told her it had nothing to do with her or Jane or the Commander. Honestly, I adore them. Don’t be angry, but I had to let the cat out of the bag a bit. I said you and I had come to an understanding, and it would be difficult to have you at one place and me at another. Was it wrong of me to tell her that?”
Skitt let the air out of his lungs and shook his head. “Not at all. I did much the same thing. It changed nothing. I got her sympathy and little else. The Commander’s household is too small to require the services of a butler.”
“I shall go with you, Skitt, wherever you have a mind to go. I shall. Cheer up. We’re not going to be separated.”
“You can’t let Libby down. They count on you to help them with Jane. She needs you. She’ll be a young lady soon enough.”
“There are plenty of English maids who can fit the bill.”
“Fit the bill?” Skitt laughed. “You act and speak so much like one of us it takes a quaint expression like that to come along and remind me you’re American. I love you dearly, Montgomery, but you can’t let Libby and Jane down. You really can’t. You might feel all right about it for a day or two, but then you’d think of Jane’s tears and fall apart.”
“I wouldn’t, you know.”
“You would, you know. Imagine if we got a letter saying Jane was having a rough go and was down in the dumps and they couldn’t bring her out of it? Don’t tell me you wouldn’t feel it like a dagger to the heart. That’s the sort of woman you are. It’s one of the reasons you’re a treasure. You can’t abandon the Fordyces and trail after me to heaven knows where. It won’t work.”
She wrapped her arms around him. “Then what are we going to do? I might not be able to live without Jane, but I can’t live without you either.”
“I don’t know. I swear I don’t.”
“What’s in your pocket?”
“You keep playing with something. You won’t even put your arms around me.”
Skitt took his right hand out of his pocket and embraced her. “There. Will that do?”
“I’m not a chore, surely.”
“I’m distracted by the day’s events. Even Fairburn, the former groundskeeper who quit and worked for another family, warrants more attention than I do. They’ve rehired him as groundskeeper here.”
“He doesn’t warrant my attention!” She kissed Skitt on the lips and darted her hand into his pocket. They wrestled briefly, but she pulled away and ran off towards the water. She opened her hand, and the moonlight glinted off the ring. “Oh!”
Skitt watched her. “It’s not much.”
“Not much? It’s adorable. I utterly love it.” She smiled at him. “Who’s it for? Norah Cole?”
“Don’t be mad. You know who it’s for. But what’s the point?”
“What’s the point?”
“We can’t do anything about it. You shall go to Plymouth, and I shall wind up in northern Scotland or Wales or the Isle of Man, for all I know. I might as well be on the moon and you on Neptune.”
“We’ll work it out, my love.”
“How?”
She came back to him and put the ring in his hand. “I don’t care about how right now. I just want to receive my ring properly, that’s all. If it is to be my ring.”
“Of course it’s your ring. There’s no one I love half so much as you. But it’s such a small thing…all I could afford.”
“It’s a great thing. I want to wear it with all my heart.”
“Very well.” Skitt turned the ring over in his hand and watched the wink of light hit the diamond. “I’m at a loss for words, really.”
“Come on, Skitt. You can go on about rugby scores till everyone’s asleep in their ale.”
“Rugby scores are easy. It’s just numbers. A beautiful woman is something else again.”
“Well, that’s a good start. Carry on.”
Skitt put his hands behind his back. “I’ve asked for some help.”
Montgomery looked around quickly. “From whom? Not Harrison.”
“From William.”
“What! Lord Preston?”
“I have it here.” Skitt unfolded a piece of paper. “Shall I go ahead?”
“Yes, yes, go ahead. I’m going to die if we keep up this dance.”
Skitt squinted and read the words slowly as one of the swans, waking up, flapped its wings.
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds
Or bends with the remover to remove
O, no! It is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken
It is the star to every wandering bark
Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken
Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle’s compass come
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks
But bears it out even to the edge of doom
If this be error and upon me proved
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
Montgomery smiled. “Wonderful. Your voice is perfect. And you did write it out, after all.”
“So I did.” Skitt brought the ring out from behind his back. “Your eyes flash just like it flashes, you know.”
“Do they?”
“Black jewels. I’ve been fascinated by them ever since I first saw you years ago when you came to Dover Sky with Michael and Libby and Jane.”
“Really?”
“They dazzled me. I used to have a fancy for Lady Catherine y’know. But not after I had a look at you.”
“I’m astonished and flattered. But was it just the eyes that brought you to me, Skitt?”
“You know it wasn’t. You have a beauty like a starry night, yes. But a spirit just as brilliant.”
“Ah, now that’s sweetly said. As good as anything from your friend William Shakespeare.”
“I don’t have anything else to add. Will you marry me, Montgomery?”
“You know I will.”
She held out her hand, and he slipped the ring over her finger. It was loose.
“Arrr,” he growled. “It doesn’t fit proper.”
She twined her arms around his neck. “There are ways to fix that.”
“I don’t want you fat. I love you exactly the way you are.”
“I have no intention of getting fat.” She ran her lips over his. “Enough talk. We’re to be married. Let’s kiss to that for the rest of the night.”
Gloom descended on Skitt once again. “What good is all this, Montgomery? We can’t do anything about it. How can we be married if we can’t even live together?”
“You must pick up the habit from the Danforths. They seem to be very good at that sort of thing. The husband’s in the one place and the wife’s in the other. Like Ben in Africa and Victoria here. Or Kipp in Jerusalem and Caroline pining away for him at Dover Sky.”
“I don’t want to be good at that sort of thing. I want you in my arms every night.”
“And I want to be there. Now no more of this.” She began to plant short, sharp, fiery kisses on his lips and cheeks. “We shall be happy, you and I. Something will work out, my lovely man.”
“I don’t see how.” But Skitt closed his eyes and responded to the sparks landing rapidly on his face and mouth with pleasant stings.
Terry showed up at Dover Sky the day before Guy Fawkes with bags of sweets and strings of firecrackers for everyone at the estate. As far as children went, with Caroline and Kipp living in London, only Jane remained, who at fifteen thought of herself as a woman, not a girl. Nevertheless, she grabbed candy and firecrackers with a squeal, popping the first in her mouth till her cheeks bulged and tossing the others all about her as they exploded overhead and in the grass.
“Skitt!” Terry called as the butler stood on the front porch of the manor. “Harrison is busy with pruning. Will you give me a hand with the effigy?”
He and Skitt, a rough tweed coat over his black and white uniform, stuffed large pants and a large gray coat with straw, filling both sleeves, as well as a tall hat that bulged to reveal a head with button eyes and a button mouth. Keeping Guy Fawkes upright with a long wooden pole they ran through his back and up to his neck, they placed him in the middle of a large mound of brush that Harrison had been collecting all week as he cleaned up hedges and groves and thickets.
“Do you think it needs anything else, Skitt?” Terry asked.
“Well, Commander, perhaps if we could find logs and some thicker limbs the bonfire would burn a great deal longer.”
“Good idea. Let’s fetch a barrow and see what we can find.”
As Skitt pushed the barrow along, twice having to take it back from the naval officer dressed in corduroy pants and coat and shirt, Terry clapped a hand to his shoulder. “Libby tells me you’re engaged.”
“Yes, sir.”
“That’s wonderful news. Congratulations.”
“Thank you very much, Commander.”
“Now that you’re settled on Montgomery and I’m settled on Libby, perhaps we can let the Catherine business go the way of the wind. What do you think, Skitt?”
Skitt’s face quickly turned scarlet. “Lady Catherine was a young man’s fancy and folly, sir.”
“And I was the unwelcome rival.”
More blood filled Skitt’s cheeks and he kept his head down, pushing the barrow ahead with renewed vigor.
“I don’t mind, Skitt. Lady Catherine is a fine woman. But I’m head over heels with Libby’s ginger-blonde hair and ocean-blue eyes, just as I expect you can’t get enough of Montgomery’s shining black locks or flashing dark eyes.”
Skitt couldn’t keep himself from smiling. “Aye, there you have it, sir.”
“I have a proposal for you. Once we’re living close to the Royal Navy docks, I shall be entertaining considerably. Captains, commanders, leftenant commanders, commodores, even the odd admiral. There will be some busy seasons when I’m ashore. Too much for Libby to handle on her own, and Montgomery will have her hands full with Jane turning sixteen and seventeen and, eventually, twenty-one, Lord help us. What do you say? Is butlering that sort of crew something that piques your interest at all?”
“What, sir?”
“Do you want to work for me, Skitt? I could use you, and heaven knows I trust you with the lives of everyone in my family. You can think it over if you’d like, but I’ll be shipping out in a couple of months and it would be nice to know how you feel about it one way or the other before the Hood weighs anchor after New Year’s Day.”
“Think it over?”
“Certainly. We’re not going to be one of the large Danforth estates you’re used to serving, but you’ll still have a lot to look after, not to mention—”
Skitt dropped the barrow handles and seized the commander’s hand, forgetting for a moment where he was and who he was. “With all my heart! With all my heart, sir. Montgomery and I shall be married and serve your family together with pride and distinction. It’s a brilliant plan if you don’t mind me saying so, sir. Absolutely brilliant.”
Terry laughed and pumped his hand. “Why, then, the bargain is sealed…sealed and done. You’re a Royal Navy butler come Easter, Skitt. A butler in the tradition of those who served Nelson and Rodney and Jellicoe, though I am a minnow compared to those leviathans. You shall have an outfit suited to your station—dark-navy trimmed with deep burgundy all set off by the crisp white of your shirt. How does that sound?”
“Capital, sir, capital! May I leave you for a moment? Only for a moment, mind. I must run and tell Montgomery. She is just on a walk with your daughter along the northern boundary of the estate. I must catch them up. I must tell her what’s happened.”
“By all means, go, man. Faint heart never won fair lady. Run as if your life depended upon it.”
“I will do, sir. Thank you. Bless you!”
Terry saluted as Skitt vaulted the barrow and raced for the stone fence to the north of them. “England expects every man to do his duty!” he called after him.
British East Africa, Kenya
“May I open my eyes now, Ben? Honestly, we’re not youngsters in the stables anymore playing our silly games.”
“Just a moment. I have to position you just so. There. All right, Lady Victoria, you may take a good look.”
She opened her eyes to a tall mountain peak rising out of the jungle and grasslands white with snow at its summit. She put her knuckles to her mouth.
“My heavens, Ben! How high is that?”
“More than 19,000 feet—almost four miles.”
“It’s magnificent. I never expected something like this. And what are those beasts moving across the fields? Not giraffe?”
“What other creature has such a long neck?”
“I’m amazed. Utterly shocked and amazed. Have the boys seen this yet?”
“Not at all. They’ve been with the bishop—Stevenson. He’s introducing them to some of the African children. I wanted us to look at Mount Kilimanjaro together.”
“Kilimanjaro. What a beautiful name. What does it mean?”
“I’ve heard so many stories about that: mountain of caverns, mountain of whiteness, mountain of greatness. I prefer mountain of greatness.”
“Of course you would.”
He put his arm around her. “Though calling it mountain of whiteness ties in with the name Whitecross much better.”
“Can it be climbed?”
“It can. One day we shall do it. For now it’s good to gaze at it and to think of God and give thanks.”
She leaned into him and took his hand. “Only you would do this. Only you would bring me here. I didn’t want to come to Africa even though I acted as if I did. I didn’t want another ‘Ben Whitecross and God’ adventure that involved airplanes and skies and dangers known and unknown. But now I’m so grateful. This is a spot of extraordinary beauty. And truth be known, I feel much safer here than I did back in Europe and England.”
“Really? Why do you say that?”
“That Hitler fellow taking over as chancellor of Germany. Dad’s in a flap about it and his old friend Baron von Isenburg joining the Nazi Party. Mum is terrified and wants Catherine and Albrecht to get out of Germany with Sean and Angelika before something happens.”
“What’s going to happen?”
“I don’t know, really, but everyone is expecting something to blow up. I hate all the rumors and gossip. Nasty memories of when I was young and the Great War started: you disappearing to the Western Front, Folkestone being bombed, and Mr. Seabrooke getting killed. I feel much safer here among the lions and gorillas and snakes actually.”
Ben laughed. “I’m glad to hear it. I must thank Herr Hitler for his part in making Kenya so amenable to you. Half my battle’s won because he’s created such a threatening environment in Europe.”
“Don’t joke, Ben Whitecross. The Europe situation leaves me with an ugly feeling.”
He kissed the top of her head. “Don’t worry, Vic. Nothing in the world is going to happen. Europe and Germany and Britain will sort themselves out like they always do. We already had our world war and no one wants another. So while the great leaders of the great nations huff and puff and move pieces about on the checkerboard, you’ll be here serving God and gazing at Kilimanjaro every morning and evening. Think of the sunrises and sunsets on that peak. Think of how it will bless Ramsay and Tim to live in a magical world with magical beasts far from the English rains and fogs.”
She smiled. “When you put it that way it fills me with peace. I never thought Africa could do that.”