Page 86 of The Gathering Storm

‘Apparently Wigram hinted the same thing, and the King said that, far from taking anything away from David, he was giving him a title he would otherwise have forfeited when he abdicated.’

‘David will never see it that way.’

‘No. Even after all this, he’s incapable of understanding the pain he caused everyone. Fruity says he’s simply bewildered by his family’s inability to see how wonderful Wally is.’

‘Oh, well, it’s all over now,’ Emma said, as the car glided to the kerb in front of the lighted building. ‘Let’s forget about it and enjoy the evening. I don’t suppose we’ll ever see them again, anyway.’

‘Almost certainly not. They are now in the category of old, unhappy far-off things and battles long ago, and we shall think of them no more. Here we are, beloved, and may I say you look ravishing tonight?’

‘You may, provided you promise to dance with me and not spend all evening frowsting in the smoking-room with your chums.’

‘The only thing that would stop me dancing with you is not being able to get near you for your hundreds of admirers.’

There was a saying: God laughs when men make plans. It was the next day that Kit was called from the breakfast table by a telephone call.

‘That was Fruity,’ he said, returning to Emma.

She studied his face. ‘Something wrong? They’ve heard about the Letters Patent? What did they say?’

‘David said that Bertie would never do such a thing, and that it’s a plot by the Hardinges to insult Wally.’

‘What does she think?’

‘Fruity says she wasn’t surprised – she’s been telling David ever since she left England that his family would never allow her to be an HRH. She said that the British monarchy is a matriarchy in pants: the King’s wife runs the King and the King’s mother runs the King’s wife. But that’s not the worst thing.’

‘Oh dear. You’d better tell me. I can see it’s shaken you.’

‘Fruity says David wants us at the wedding on the third of June. We are commanded to propose ourselves, on pain of – well, whatever level of displeasure we care to imagine.’

‘Oh, heavens! I don’t want to go.’

‘You still haven’t heard the worst. Despite the Letters Patent, he says everyone has to call Wally HRH. And to get into the swing of it, he’s making everyone curtsy to her.’

‘Kit, I can’t, I really can’t, curtsy to the double-divorcée from Baltimore who left me to pay restaurant bills even when she’d invited me. And who borrowed a pair of pearl and diamond earrings from me and never gave them back.’

’Did she, by gum! Then I shall wrestle them out of her if I have to pin her to the floor.’

‘You don’t mean you’re thinking of going?’

‘Sweetheart, I think we have to. Apart from Fruity and Baba, and Kath and Herman Rogers, there’ll be no-one there.’

‘Whose fault is that?’

‘Don’t be so unforgiving. The poor old chap can’t help being a little bit mental. He was hoping that one of his brothers would come and be his supporter, but the King’s forbidden it. Monckton’s on his way, but David’s down to one equerry – Dudley Forwood – and a detective.’

‘You used to be sorry for Wally, now you seem to be sorry for him,’ she accused.

‘I’m sorry for both of them. When I think of the future that awaits them, I shudder. They ought to have one happy day to look back on.’

Emma stared at him. ‘You want to go,’ she accused him.

He gave her a shamefaced grin. ‘Come on, don’t you want to be able to say you were there? It’s a little piece of history.’

‘I’d be happy to say I was there,’ Emma grumbled. ‘It’s the having to be there I mind. And I haven’t anything to wear.’

‘Bless you, you’ve days to choose something. We won’t stay afterwards, I promise. They’ll go straight off after the wedding breakfast, and we can leave the next morning.’

‘Wally will expect a wedding present.’

‘There’s that silver chafing dish she gave you for your birthday last year. Give her that.’

‘She didn’t buy that for me, you know. I saw it at the Fort. David took it from Buckingham Palace.’

‘So that makes it a fittingly royal gift,’ said Kit.

‘You are very wicked,’ Emma said admiringly. It seemed she had agreed to go, without ever agreeing. ‘But I won’t curtsy,’ she added, in final defiance.