‘Then you’d have been in trouble with the police as well.’
‘The sergeant said that they’d soon find him at daybreak. He left his ladder and his paint. Both could be traced back to him.’
‘You did well, Mansel.’
‘I got in a couple of good punches, I know that.’
‘You should have let me know you were going to stay up all night. I could have waited with you. The two of us could have nabbed him. Anyway,’ said Hambridge, crossing to the wall where his coat was hanging, ‘I’m glad you called in. I’ve got something to show you.’
Price grinned wickedly. ‘It’s not a dirty postcard, is it?’
‘No — it’s something a bit more serious than that.’
He handed the Welshman the letter. Price took it out of the envelope and read it through, his anger slowly mounting.
‘Don’t go, Fred,’ he urged.
‘I have to go. I’d be breaking the law.’
‘Burn the letter. Tell them it never arrived.’
‘They’d only send another one. You’ll be getting one yourself.’
Price was aggressive. ‘I don’t take orders from on high. If they want me to go before a tribunal, they’ll bloody well have to come and fetch me.’
‘There’s no point in upsetting them, Mansel. It could work against you.’
‘I don’t care.’
‘I’ll be seeking exemption on the grounds that I’m a Quaker,’ said Hambridge. ‘My parents will come to the tribunal and so will Charlie. Having people speak up for you is bound to help. You must have someone on your side.’
‘My parents are back home in the Rhondda. They’d never come here.’
‘What about your boss?’
‘I think he’d be glad to see the back of me. I’ll get no help there. Besides,’ he went on, grandiloquently, ‘I’m ready for a tussle with the tribunal. It’ll be a case of no holds barred. I’ll tell them just what I think about this stupid idea of enforced military service. It’s a form of bloody slavery.’
Hambridge was worried about him. Because of his religion, the carpenter felt that he had a chance of exemption, even though two Quaker friends of his had been conscripted after their appearance before a tribunal. If Price went there with the express purpose of provoking those who sat in judgement on him, he’d be more or less inviting them to deal harshly with him.
‘There’s no point in deliberately upsetting them,’ he argued. ‘That’s what Cyril taught us. We have to present a reasoned argument.’
‘I’ll do it my way, Fred — you do it yours.’
Hambridge took the letter back from him and stowed it away in his coat.
‘What about Gordon?’ he asked.
‘He’s my big worry,’ said Price, bitterly. ‘If he gets married in order to dodge conscription, I’ll never speak to the bastard again.’
‘I think we talked him out of it, Mansel.’
‘I hope so. When I think of all those meetings the three of us had with Cyril, I just can’t believe that Gordon would desert us. He was always boasting about the way he’d defy the tribunal. He said he didn’t care what they did to him. Then,’ he added with utter contempt, ‘he tried using Ruby Cosgrove to save him from the army. Thank goodness we changed his mind for him.’
Since he’d last seen his fiancee, Leach had done a lot of thinking. He regretted his suggestion of an early marriage and was still smarting from the comments made by Price and Hambridge. The Welshman, in particular, had been quite vicious with him. They were good friends and he didn’t want to lose their respect. Under the guidance of Ablatt, they’d bonded together. If anything, the murder should have tightened that bond and helped them to present a united front against the possibility of conscription. Yet he had threatened to break it apart and couldn’t quite understand what had impelled him to do so. Leach was not afraid to go to prison, if necessary. In that eventuality, Ruby had promised to stand by him. Sharing his pacifism, she’d always supported him in his determination to resist fighting.
What did she think of him now? Did she feel the same unquestioning love for him? Leach doubted it. When they’d parted, Ruby had looked at him in an odd and rather unsettling way. It was as if she was discovering an aspect of his character for the first time and was not sure if she liked it. The prospect of an early marriage would have been discussed with her parents. Leach was certain they’d have found the idea unappealing. His own parents had been more amenable. His father was keen to retain his help in the bakery and his mother wanted him saved from the unspeakable horrors at the front. Wounded soldiers were a common sight in the streets, a stark warning to what lay in wait for those sent to the trenches.
Leach loitered outside the factory until the hooter sounded. It was not long before the mass exodus took place, hundreds of bodies streaming out of the building in a rush to get home. Ruby Cosgrove was walking arm in arm with two friends. When she saw Leach, she broke away and trotted across to him.
‘I’ve been dying to see you, Gordon,’ she said, accepting a kiss.
‘That’s good to hear. I thought you were angry with me.’
‘Why should I be angry?’
‘You didn’t like the idea I put to you.’
‘That was because I didn’t really take it in,’ she explained.
It was impossible to have a private conversation in the middle of a crowd so they walked down the road and turned into a quiet side street. Ruby’s face was glowing with expectation. He was relieved to see that she’d recovered all of her buoyancy and good humour.
‘Mummy and Daddy hated it at first,’ she told him, ‘but they slowly came to see that there were advantages. In the end, they were in favour of us getting this three-day licence to marry. Daddy said it would save him a lot of money if we didn’t have the reception we’d planned. He liked that.’
‘Actually,’ he said, ‘I’ve had a change of heart.’
Her face clouded. ‘You mean that you don’t love me any more?’
‘Of course I do.’
‘Then what are you talking about?’
‘It’s this three-day licence, Ruby.’
‘All the girls at work thought it was so romantic,’ she said, dreamily. ‘They were very jealous. They all want to be swept off their feet and carried to the altar as quickly as that.’
‘But your aunt is making the wedding dress. That will take time.’
‘No, it wouldn’t, Gordon. I went round to see her last night. Auntie Gwen said she’d only need ten days or so to finish it. She works very fast.’
‘What about the church? It’s already booked.’
‘We simply tell the vicar that we’ve changed our minds.’
‘But that’s the thing, Ruby,’ he said, awkwardly. ‘I haven’t.’
She stared at him with surprise tinged with a sense of betrayal. When she left home that morning, it was with the certainty that she could marry him far sooner than planned, with the added bonus of taking him out of reach of conscription. Once they’d thought about it, her parents and her aunt had given their approval and her friends at the factory had all been enthusiastic about the notion. Suddenly, there was a problem. Having made her elated, Leach had just dampened her spirits. Ruby couldn’t believe that he would let her down like that.
‘I thought it was what you wanted,’ she said, lower lip quivering.
‘It was, Ruby, but things have changed.’
‘What sort of things?’
‘I talked it over with Fred and Mansel.’
‘I’m marrying you, Gordon Leach, and not them.’
‘But we came to this agreement, you see,’ he said. ‘All four of us — Cyril included — vowed that we’d take a stand against conscription together.’
‘That was then — this is now.’
‘They made me look at it in a different light.’
She flew into a rage. ‘In other words, you don’t want to marry me.’
‘There’s nothing I want more, Ruby.’
‘I hate you for this,’ she cried. ‘You get my hopes up, then you dash them. Wait till the girls hear about this — they’ll have a good laugh at me. You’re cruel, Gordon, you really are. What’s so special about Fred and Mansel? You always said you put me first. Why let them tell you what to do?’