‘Doesn’t he always write about society people?’ was Kernével’s chilly comment.
I told Pennistone about Prasad, Asbjornsen and the bath.
‘Prasad merely turned the taps on at the hour of prayer. It was perfectly right that he should have the bathroom. Finn should have arranged that through you in the first instance.’
‘I see.’
‘Thank God Finn’s back, and I shall no longer have to deal directly with that spotty Brigadier who always wants to alter what is brought to him to sign. I have had to point out on three occasions that his emendations contradict himself in a higher unity.’
A day or two after our return, Kucherman telephoned early. It was a Friday.
‘Can you come round here at once?’
‘Of course. I thought you were still in Brussels.’
‘I flew in last night.’
When I reached Eaton Square, Kucherman, unusual for him, was looking a little worried.
‘This question I am going to put is rather important,’ he said.
‘Yes?’
‘My Government has come to a decision about the army of the Resistance. As you know, the problem has posed itself since the expulsion of the Germans.’
‘So I understand.’
‘Were you told what the Field-Marshal threatened to Gauthier de Graef?’
‘I was standing beside him when the words were said.’
‘They are good young men, but they require something to do.’
‘Naturally.’
‘The proposal is that they should be brought to this country.’
That was an unexpected proposition.
‘You mean to train?’
‘Otherwise we shall have trouble. It is certain. These excellent young men have most of them grown up under German occupation, with no means of expressing their hatred for it — the feeling that for years they have not been able to breathe. They must have an outlet of some sort. They want action. A change of scene will to some extent accomplish that.’
‘What sort of numbers?’
‘Say thirty thousand.’
‘A couple of Divisions?’
‘But without the equivalent in weapons and services.’
‘When do you want them to come?’
‘At once.’
‘So we’ve got to move quickly.’
‘That is the point.’
I thought about the interminable procedures required to get a project of this sort under way. Blackhead, like a huge bat, seemed already flapping his wings about Eaton Square, bumping blindly against the windows of the room.
‘Arrangements for two Divisions will take some time. Are they already cadred?’
‘Sufficiently to bring them across.’
‘I’ll go straight back to Colonel Finn. We’ll get a minute out to be signed by the General and go at once to the highest level. There will be all sorts of problems in addition to the actual physical accommodation of two extra Divisions in this country. The Finance people, for one thing. It will take a week or two to get that side fixed.’
‘You think so?’
‘I know them.’
‘Speed is essential.’
‘It’s no good pretending we’re going to get an answer by Monday.’
‘You mean it may take quite a long time?’
‘You are familiar with ministerial machinery.’
Kucherman got up from his chair.
‘What are we going to do?’
‘I thought I’d better say all this.’
‘I know it already.’
‘It’s a fact, I’m afraid.’
‘But we must do something. What you say is true, I know. How are we going to get round it? I want to speak frankly. This could be a question of avoiding civil war.’
There was a pause. I knew there was only one way out — to cut the Gordian Knot — but could not immediately see how to attain that. Then, perhaps hypnotized by Kucherman’s intense need for an answer, I thought of something.
‘You said you knew Sir Magnus Donners.’
‘Of course.’
‘But you have not seen much of him since you’ve been over here?’
‘I have spoken to him a couple of times at official parties. He was very friendly.’
‘Ring him up and say you want to see him at once — this very morning.’
‘You think so?’
‘Tell him what you’ve just told me.’
‘And then —’
‘Sir Magnus can tell the Head Man.’
Kucherman thought for a moment.
‘I insist you are right,’ he said.
‘It’s worth trying.’
‘This is between ourselves.’
‘Of course.’
‘Not even Colonel Finn.’
‘Least of all.’
‘Meanwhile you will start things off in the normal manner through les voies hiérarchiques.’
‘As soon as I get back.’
‘So I will get to work,’ said Kucherman. ‘I am grateful for the suggestion. The next time we meet, I hope I shall have had a word with Sir Magnus.’
I returned to Finn. He listened to the proposal to bring the Belgian Resistance Army to this country.
‘It’s pretty urgent?’
‘Vital, sir.’
‘We’ll try and move quickly, but I foresee difficulties. Good notion to train those boys over here. Get out a draft right away. Meanwhile I’ll consult the Brigadier about the best way of handling the matter. You’d better have a word with Staff Duties. It’s not going to be as easy to settle as Kucherman hopes.’
I got out the draft. Finally a tremendous minute was launched on its way that very afternoon. Bureaucratically speaking, grass had not grown under our feet; but this was only a beginning. That weekend was my free one. I told Isobel what I had suggested to Kucherman.
‘If the worst comes to the worst we can invoke Matilda.’
Neither of us had seen Matilda since she had married Sir Magnus Donners.
‘It’s just a long shot.’
On Monday morning a summons came from Finn as soon as he arrived in his room. I went up there.
‘This Belgian affair.’
‘Yes, sir?’
Finn passed his hands over the smooth ivory surfaces of his skull.
‘The most extraordinary thing has happened.’
‘Yes, sir?’
‘An order has come down from the Highest Level of All to say it is to be treated as top priority. The chaps are to come over the moment their accommodation is decided upon. Things like financial details can be worked out later. All other minor matters too. Tell Blackhead he can talk to the PM about it, if he isn’t satisfied.’
‘This is splendid, sir.’
Finn put on the face he usually assumed when about to go deaf, but did not do so.
‘Providential,’ he said. ‘Can’t understand it. It just shows how the Old Man’s got his finger on every pulse. I don’t know whether Kucherman did — well, a bit of intriguing. He’s a very able fellow, and in the circumstances it would have been almost justified. You will attend a conference on the subject under the DSD at eleven o’clock this morning, all branches concerned being represented.’
The Director of Staff Duties was the general responsible for planning matters. When I next saw Kucherman, we agreed things had gone through with remarkable smoothness. The name of Sir Magnus Donners was not mentioned when we discussed certain administrative details. Thinking over the incident after, it was easy to see how a taste for intrigue, as Finn called it, could develop in people.
FIVE
During the period between the Potsdam Conference and the dropping of the first atomic bomb, I read in the paper one morning that Widmerpool was engaged to Pamela Flitton. This piece of news was undramatically announced in the column dedicated to such items. It was not even top of the list. Pamela was described as daughter of Captain Cosmo Flitton and Mrs Flavia Wisebite; an address in Montana (suggesting a ranch) showed her father was still alive and living in America. Her mother, whose style indicated divorce from Harrison Wisebite (sunk, so far as I knew, without a trace), had come to rest in the country round Glimber, possibly a cottage on the estate. Widmerpool — ‘Colonel K. G. Widmerpool, OBE’ — was based on a block of flats in Victoria Street. Apart from stories already vaguely propagated by Farebrother and Duport, there was no clue to how this engagement had come about. Surprising as it was, the immediate implications seemed no more than that a piece of colossal folly on both their parts would soon be readjusted by another announcement saying the marriage was ‘off’. The world was in such a state of flux that such inanities were only to be expected in one quarter or another. Only later, considered in cold blood, did the arrangement appear credible; even then for less than obvious reasons.