Turning his back to her he went over to the mantelpiece ahd scribbled a note on an odd piece of paper from his pocket. It ran:
7 didn't want to scare you unnecessarily but accidents are more frequent than usual these days. If it's after midday when you wake and I'm not back you'll know I've slipped up. In that case give the landlord his other ten shillings, go along to the docks and get yourself taken on one of the ships. There were so many prisoners that they're certain to be still evacuating People then. 'Ill have to be a hospital case or in the can myself before I fail you; but, if I have to, best of luck! H.H.'
He laid the message and a little wad of pound-notes under the automatic. When he turned again Lavina had already crawled between the sheets and was just dropping off to sleen but he roused her up and made her get out of bed for a moment to ensure her locking the door after him.
'Happy dreams!' he said with a smile. 'I'll be back in less than a couple of hours and we'll be off to the country.'
'Bless you!' she said, and closed the door behind him.
Out in the street Hemmingway set off at a brisk pace westward. Although he had been up all night, finding Lavina had acted as a tonic to him and, after the frowsty atmosphere of the public house bedroom, the fresh morning air lent him new strength.
Outside a church a hoarding which bore the legend, IF YOUR KNEES KNOCK TOGETHER KNEEL ON THEM, caught his eye and he took off his mental hat to the stouthearted parson who was sticking to his ship with such an appropriate slogan nailed to the mast. Except where they were still evacuating cases from the East End Maternity Hospital few people were moving in the streets and the Commercial Road seemed interminable, but at last he reached Whitechapel High Street and there he saw an event which gave him furiously to think.
One of the very few private cars he had seen that morning was coming down it, moving east, when a group of toughs ran out into the roadway in front of it. The car slowed up. The people in it, who appeared to be a middle-class family, were unceremoniously pulled out and, piling into it, the six or eight roughs drove off, leaving its owner cursing in the gutter.
It was quite understandable that East Enders should be just as anxious as anyone else to get out of London to the greater safety of the countryside but a little disconcerting to find that some of them were using such high-handed methods. He might be faced with the same sort of trouble himself when he drove back to pick up Lavina; so he determined that directly he entered the East End he would ignore all limits and lights. The police were much too occupied to bother about motoring offences and it was better to risk a crash than the loss of the car.
In Cannon Street he was lucky enough to strike a convoy of food lorries proceeding West which had just collected a supply of fish from Billingsgate, and seizing his chance as the last one rumbled by he ran out into the roadway, caught the tailboard and pulled himself up on to the load of boxed fish.
The lorries turned right, east of St. Paul's, into Newgate Street and rumbled through Holborn, so Hemmingway guessed that they were probably heading for Hyde Park. As they passed the top end of Bond Street he dropped off and, with renewed energy after his free ride, strode out down it towards Piccadilly.
It was five to seven when he arrived at St. James's Square. Letting himself in with his key, he went straight upstairs to his bedroom to rouse Derek; but directly he opened the door he saw that Derek was no longer there.
He was not in the bathroom either, and his clothes had gone; so, after having visited the kitchen and called his name loudly several times, Hemmingway concluded that he must have left the house.
Derek was a countryman and used to early rising; moreover, he had passed most of the previous day asleep in the Park. Evidently he had wpken about six, found himself much better after his night in bed and felt too restless to remain indoors; but Hemmingway was justifiably annoyed, because he had definitely told him that he was not to go out.
Now he had, it meant either waiting for his return, which would delay picking up Lavina and getting away into the country, or having to leave him behind.
It was on coming up from the kitchen that Hemmingway noticed a letter addressed to himself propped up on the hall table. He tore it open and read:
'I'm still feeling pretty groggy but better after a good sleep. 1 can't stay here doing nothing, though, as I'm so terribly worried about Lavina. I'm going out to see if I can find her and, if I don't have any luck, I'll get back this evening round about ten 0 clock. If you haven't had any either, we'll consult then as to 'he best thing to do; but, if one of us has run her to earth in 'he meantime, we can all drive down to Stapleton tonight.'
Hemmingway rarely gave way to temper but, as he tore the note slowly across, his eyes were narrowed and his teeth were clenched. If Derek had been there he would have hit him, his annoyance was so intense. The whole wretched muddle had been Derek's fault in the first place, for not having been firm with Lavina at the Dorchester two nights before; and now he had messed everything up again.
If Hemmingway was not back at the 'Main Brace' by midday and Lavina woke to find his note, she would at once assume that some accident had befallen him and, leaving the pub, go down to the docks where all trace of her would be lost again.
There was only one thing for it. Lavina was the person who mattered; not Derek. He must darned well take care of himself; it was his own funeral now how he got out of London. Going into the lounge, Hemmingway wrote a brief note himself:
7 have found Lavina but I had to leave her at a pub in the East End. If I'm not back there by midday with the car, she'll read a note I left, think something has happened to me and, according to instructions, go off on her own. If you had remained here as I told you to, this mess-up would not have occurred. As it is, I'm afraid you'll have to get down to Staple-ton on your own as best you can. H.H.'
He propped it up on the table in the hall, where Derek's note had been, collected the satchel of private papers from his room and, leaving the house, went round to the mews at the back to get his car.
As he pulled out his key to unlock the garage door he noticed with sudden apprehension that the lock on it had been broken. Pulling the door open, he saw that the car had gone. Scrawled in chalk on the inner side of the door were the words: 7 hope you don't mind, I've borrowed your car. Derek.'
Mopping his brow with his pocket handkerchief Hemmingway damned Derek to all eternity.
Lavina Shoots to Kill
It was still only a little after seven so Hemmingway had at least the consolation that he had plenty of time to get back to Lavina before midday, even if he had to walk the whole distance.
His stolen lift on the lorry coming up had enabled him to do the journey in just under an hour and he could cover the six odd miles back on foot in two hours, or less if he hurried; but the problem now was, how the devil was he going to get Lavina to the country without a car?
Any attempt to hire one was out of the question. All the hire companies and taxi-cabs had been taken over by the Government for the purposes of the evacuation, while practically everybody who had a private car and was not detained in London on some official duty had used it to get his own family away; so, apart from vehicles in use by the various Services, London now was virtually stripped of motor transport.
Yet Hemmingway knew that he could not expect Lavina to walk the thirty odd miles from the East End of London to Stapleton. She was a healthy girl and, although she was much too lazy and uninterested in sport to make a fetish of exercise, the activities demanded by her film work had kept her fit, so that in normal circumstances she might conceivably have made the journey; but definitely not right on top of the strain and exhaustion of the last two days.